The Magician's Assistant
by RhinoMouse
Summary: Clarke Griffin was not going to let the fight against pureblood prejudice her Dad believed in die with him. No she was about a to pull a true muggle magic trick that the wizarding world won't soon forget and like the best muggle magic the most interesting part is beneath the surface. Now you see it now you don't.
1. Chapter 1

Authors Note-

So the idea for this fic is what would happen if instead of changing the wizarding world through war, because Voldemort is the evil lord of no nosedom, what if you changed it through legitimate means? The result is the following have the first several chapters written and the entire thing outlined so hopefully we'll make it to the end. Hope you all like it.

Before you get started you should know that both of the writers on this are big into plot so it's going to be a long time before any ship stuff happens and when it does it's not going to be the focus of the story. So like yes this is a Clexa fic but you're not even going to meet Lexa for like the first two thirds of the school year. Also the timeline we have is going to expand past Clarke's seventh year at Hogwarts by several years, because again we're writing a plot heavy story. Also both of us adore Bellamy. So like how Lexa never died in 3x07, Bellamy never magically went out of character and turned into a murderous maniac. Because Bellamy is awesome and we reject whatever the hell is happening with him in the show. So don't worry he's not going to be a punching bag for us. We love these characters and this world and would love to hear your comments cause this has just been a thought exercise sitting on our computers for a couple of months now. Also if you want any one shots from characters perspectives other than Clarke, Bellamy and Lexa let us know cause we have several ideas and have considered making a oneshot collection from other characters points of view.

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

Clarke leaned her head against the window of her train compartment. It was going to be a long year she mused as she watched her breath fog the window. Outside the window students bustled round dragging their trunks, parents hugged their children. It was warm, colorful and the sounds filtered through to her compartment. Sighing she moved her attention to the large text on the medicinal effects of aconite in potions. It was long, dry as dirt, rather dusty, and unfortunately necessary for her studies. Just getting ahold of the thing had required hours of digging through her mother's old research materials. Necessary evils Clarke figured as she turned to her bookmarked page and began to read. While completely mind numbing she found herself becoming absorbed in the pages on acidity levels and how that affected the consistency of a finished potion depending on the amount added and methods for counteracting the ensuing reaction depending on the other ingredients in a given potion. She was part way through the section on various beetle eyes and how they could be used to thicken a potion involving aconite when the door to her compartment crashed open causing her to jump slightly and look up at the commotion in the doorway.

"Oh no Griffin, put that book away we are partying today!" Raven grinned at her friend before dragging her trunk in as she made her way in. "You're not a Ravenclaw, the best house by the way, which means no studying on our last train ride to school."

Clarke smiled, "You're not going to let me do anything productive are you?"

"You know me so well, and budge up I'm sticking my trunk under your seat." Raven grabbed one end of her rather battered trunk and grunted as Clarke grabbed the other end so they could shove it under the seat. Huffing in satisfaction she plopped down next to Clarke grabbing her book from the seat. "A Theoretical Study of Aconite….seriously Griffin you have issues. Why would you read this?"

Clarke grabbed the book back. "It's a fascinating read thank you very much."

Raven raised her eyebrows, "Really, you want me to believe it's an engaging read?"

"I never said it was fun, just interesting." Clarke stuffed it in her book bag before Raven could grab it again.

"You Slytherins and your word plays. Why are you reading it anyways, and don't you dare say because it's 'interesting'." Raven made air quotes with her fingers for the 'interesting' while staring at Clarke challengingly.

Clarke glared at her friend. "It's necessary knowledge for certain pursuits."

"Aconite? Seriously Clarke how is a rare potion ingredient necessary, unless...Clarke why are potions part of your and Wells's secret plot stuff? Wait, never mind I don't want to know what you two duffers are up to."

Raven froze at the unnatural quiet that suddenly was purveying the compartment. "Shit, I wasn't thinking."

Clarke interrupted Raven before she could say anything else. "It's alright, he was our friend and he's going to come up whether we want him to or not." If Clarke's eyes were slightly misty when referencing Wells Raven didn't mention it.

Before the silence could get more awkward the door to the compartment slid open again and two boys stuck their heads in. "Were you starting the party without us?" Jasper grinned as he made his way in along with Monty. Clarke jumped up to help them with their trunks and was quickly engulfed in a three way hug. She leaned her head into Monty's shoulder and made a pleased sound in the back of her throat.

"I've missed you guys."

"Hey like you haven't missed me most." Raven stuck her tongue out before jumping up and joining in on the group hug. "So are we going to start the party or what?"

Jasper grinned as he pulled a crate of butterbeer out of his bag, "Expanding charms are magical aren't they."

"We would have brought moonshine but mom found our supply last week." Monty shook his head in disappointment.

Clarke slapped the boys over the head, "Great example I'd be showing up to the prefect meeting smelling like alcohol."

Monty rubbed the back of his head, "You're no fun. Now that you're head girl you're supposed to help us expand our moonshine business."

Raven popped open a bottle of butterbeer. "So who's up for some exploding snap, I enchanted the cards to give them a bit of an extra bang!" She grinned mischievously as the boys looked excited and Clarke pulled her wand out. The boys dropped to their seats eagerly while Raven started to deal out the cards.

"You're such a worry wort Clarke, stop putting protective spells on your robes and get over here." Jasper demanded while pulling a pack of licorice wands out of his robes.

"It's not paranoia when it's a reasonable fear." Clarke said while she sat down and grabbed her hand of cards. She idly wondered if she'd be needing to regrow anyone's eyebrows, she had gotten rather good at that spell over the years. It was worth it to watch the smiles on her friend's faces as they shoved candy round and began the game.

Several hands, four re-grown eyebrows, some seriously singed robes, and aching sides from laughter later and Jasper stood up and cleared his throat loudly. "Ladies and gentlemen of the assembled coolest kids from Hogwarts. I propose a toast to our final year at Hogwarts."

Raven raised her jug of butterbeer, "Hear Hear!"

Jasper glared at her for interrupting briefly before continuing, "And since our number has been reduced by one, let's make this a year to make Wells proud and for us to go out with a bang! To Wells!"

The others raised their bottles with cries of 'to Wells!' before downing a rather lot of butterbeer. Clarke smiled sadly at her friends as they all got quiet and a bit introspective as they thought about their deceased friend. Clarke pulled herself together with a shake.

"On that note I need to go help Dax set up the prefect meeting." She stood up and stuck her vine and dragon heartstring wand behind her ear while smoothing her robes and straightening her tie. "See you losers later." As she left the compartment boos and cries of lame followed in her wake. She leaned against the side of the hallway trying to pull herself together. Wells' death weighed heavily on her still, sometimes it felt like she trying to walk through mud. Several deep breaths later and she started to make her way to the prefect carriage. Dax would be waiting for her and as much as she disliked him she needed him to at least be willing to work with her.

Clarke smiled at various first years excitedly bouncing between compartments and saved one second year from a jelly leg jinx. Two cars before the prefect carriage and Clarke paused at the unnatural silence, the ambient sounds of students talking in their compartments cutting out abruptly. Frowning she decided to check things out, an overpowered silencing charm was just begging for trouble. She rolled her eyes when she noticed the compartment with Bellamy Blake in it, that would explain the charm. Trying to keep that boy from burning down the school this year was going to be difficult, but necessary. He and his trouble making friends with their war on the purebloods were getting out of hand, but it was understandable. Deciding to ignore the brewing problems in that compartment she quickly took down the silencing charm before moving onwards.

Dax was writing up the agenda for the meeting when she got to the prefect carriage. He was pointedly ignoring her, great the first interaction of the year and already the ass was upset with her. Rolling her eyes she pulled out the lists of rules she'd worked out for all the prefects and started to help set up.

Half an hour of uncomfortable silence later and the prefects started to trickle in. Clarke found herself talking with the new fifth year prefects from Slytherin and the female fifth year prefect from Ravenclaw. The Hufflepuff and most of the Ravenclaw and the Gryffindor prefects were fairly clumped together. Clarke felt herself groaning internally at the mess that making the head boy and girl both be from Slytherin was going to be. Because of course headmistress Sydney had to choose the two students from the most prominent families instead of the two most suited for the job. The fact that Dax and her were both in Slytherin was just bad luck really, but trying to get Gryffindor to work with them was going to be a nightmare, that and the fact most of the Hufflepuff prefects were half bloods and it was going to be an uphill battle. Eventually everyone made their way to their seats and Dax banged the gavel to call the meeting to order.

Clarke watched the prefect's reactions to the drivel that Dax was saying. They all knew the school rules and the overview of rules was really just a formality. What she found interesting was the reactions of the various prefects. While she was making a notation in her notebook about how George the sixth year Hufflepuff prefect should not be given any rounds in the schedule with Sarah the other sixth year Hufflepuff prefect since apparently that romance had ended according to the awkward sitting positions they were in, the carriage door opened letting in a disheveled Monroe the seventh year female Gryffindor prefect. Dax looked like a particularly pleased cat.

"So nice of you to join us, I'm sure you have a reasonable excuse for your absence that won't require the loss of your badge?" He was smiling his cruel smile.

Clarke rolled her eyes before looking up properly, like Dax or her had the power to take away someone's badge. At worst they could deduct points and give the prefect the worst night patrol hours. She supposed a detention was also a possibility but only the headmistress could take away a badge. Best to nip this in the bud before a power struggle occurred. "Monroe thank you for handling the dispute between those third years for me."

Monroe and Dax both looked at her in surprise. Monroe was more flabbergasted to Dax's annoyed surprise but still. "Prefects are required to attend meetings Griffin." He bit out.

"Yes of course but since Monroe is a seventh year and has already been through orientation before it seemed best for her to handle the issue so we could start the meeting." Clarke turned to the other prefects while Monroe made her way to her seat. "Anyways does anyone have any questions or requests for the patrols this coming year?" Thus the meeting returned to point and Dax quickly took back the lead.

Three pages in her notebook later and the meeting was called to a close. "We'll post the patrol schedules in each of the common rooms after the feast tonight. Lets all have a good year." Clarke smiled at the prefects as they started to make their ways out. Seeing Monroe moving with the crowd she paused. Monroe was a part of Bellamy's group of trouble makers, having an ally might be helpful in keeping the damage to a minimum. Decision made Clarke spoke, "Monroe would you mind staying behind for a moment?"

Monroe looked back startled. Clarke pretended she didn't notice her gulp while she steeled herself to stay behind.

Dax turned before he left, "Do you need help with that Griffin?"

"I just need to check base on how she handled the fight. Do you mind sending the patrol schedule to Sydney without me?" She knew carrying out duties would appeal to him. Dax always had liked using his perfect position a bit too much.

"Of course." he turned and left with the last of the prefects leaving Monroe with Clarke.

Clarke considered what to tell Monroe to spark the interest of the trouble makers. Coming to a decision she started. "Try not to be late next time, I won't always be able to cover for you."

"Thanks for that." Monroe nodded her body pulled in on itself defensively.

"You may want to tell your 'friends' that it would be wise to move contraband items out of their trunks before bed tonight, the staff are instituting random trunk searches." She watched the incredulity on Monroe's face.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Of course not, but let's say you were friends with certain rebellious members of your house like say, Bellamy Blake, you may want to say something." Clarke made her way to the door, either she'd listen to her warning or she wouldn't, either way when the 'random' searches occurred she'd be proven to be a possible ally.

"Why would you warn me about this?" Monroe's eyebrows were bunched up together.

Clarke paused on her way out the door, "Because things are changing." Clarke moved out and headed towards her compartment. It would be interesting to see what the Gryffindor gang would make of her warning but for now she had friends and ridiculous amounts of candy waiting for her.


	2. Chapter 2

Bellamy collapsed at the breakfast table. Mornings were not his friend and after staying up late the night before plotting out pranks he was exhausted. Thank Merlin wizards drank coffee he thought as he poured himself a mug. Breathing in the heavenly scent of his coffee he reached for some toast and started to butter it, Hogwarts really had the best food. As he happily prepared to eat his toast he found it suddenly yanked from his hand. He whipped his head around prepared to yell at whoever had dared steal his toast. Only to find his sister happily munching on it.

"Hey big bro, thanks for the toast." Octavia reached up and messed up his hair with a grin.

"I hate you." He reached for another piece of toast and started to butter it to his exacting standards, toast was important after all.

"Love you too," she grinned while sitting down next to him.

He grunted in response before drinking from his coffee. The bench shifted as Roma and Harper sat down by Octavia, Miller sat across from him. Monroe and Atom took seats next to Miller so that their section of the table was comfortably full. After everyone had sat down Bellamy looked up from his heavenly coffee, complete with two dollops of cream.

Glancing over at Atom he chucked a piece of toast at his head. "You ready for your job today?"

Atom glared at him before nodding and chewing on his sausage. Bellamy grinned in expectation for the day and went back to his toast. Glancing up at the teacher's table he watched Shumway, the ass, talking to Healer Jackson. Feeling his shoulder get grabbed he looked over at Miller who was looking at him knowingly. Huffing he got up throwing his book bag over his shoulder. "Well I'm off, double defense this morning. You lot coming?" He looked at the other seventh years. Last bites were eaten as the group got up and trudged to one of the more dreaded classes.

Bellamy found his heart lurching at the sight of a little Hufflepuff crying in the hallway. Before he could make for her to make sure she was alright Octavia pushed past him.

"I got this, someone probably just ran their mouth about blood." Octavia crouched down by the girl clearly preparing to help.

His fists clenched as he nodded sharply and continued on his way to class. He knew he wasn't the best choice for comforting eleven year old girls, but still it rankled him to see someone upset like that. It reminded him uncomfortably of another little first year only this one had been blond, he'd told her to slay her demons. Pushing down his guilt he walked into the defense classroom with his friends.

The Defense room was as orderly as always. There was an almost militaristic air to the place with its perfect angles and straight lines. There weren't any desks out today though, instead there was a dueling platform raised up in the middle of the room. The formal rules to a duel were written up on the board. Bellamy grimaced, practical lessons never went well for him with Shumway. Looking around he saw the same uncomfortable looks on his friend's faces. His face hardened as he looked back at the front of the room, he'd just have to crush whoever Shumway paired him with as a warning, rules be damned. Glancing round at the other students he wondered who Shumway would pair him with. He knew it would be one of his pureblood pets. Maybe Francis from Ravenclaw with his stupid inbred nose and encyclopedic knowledge of spells. He watched as a couple of Slytherins made their way in. Grinning to himself he wondered if he was going to get to wipe the floor with the princess, maybe make her regret sending vague warnings to Monroe just to freak people out, there hadn't been a random trunk search last night.

Before he could get too excited about the possibilities of crushing some snobby Slytherin Professor Shumway entered and the class fell silent.

"Welcome to your final year of Defense Against the Dark Arts. You will spend this year mastering the subject in an attempt to not embarrass yourself during your NEWTS," Bellamy glared at Shumway when his eyes flickered to him at that bit. "We'll be using a practical approach this year. Every class we will be having a practical demonstration or duel and then spend the rest of the class dissecting and critiquing the students performing in the demonstrations performances. Everything will go for these lessons, family magic, dark spells, as long as it is not specifically illegal it's allowed. Today we'll be having three duels before we critique them. Students not participating in the duel will have a foot of parchment due during our next class on superior strategies that could have been used. Learning of new spells will be done in your own time this year. Any questions?" He glared out at the assembled students from all four houses. "Good, first up Francis and Miller, get up there and show us what you've got."

Bellamy slapped Miller on the back, "Good luck, crush him yeah."

Miller just nodded before stepping up on the dueling platform and drawing his wand. The two boys bowed and prepared for the duel to begin. At Shumway's mark the two both launched disarming jinx's at each other. Miller made an impressive dodge while casting a blasting hex at Francis. Francis had already pulled up a shield charm though that easily absorbed the hex. Several more low level hexes and jinxes were exchanged before Francis sent a freezing charm at the platform. Miller who had pulled up a shield expecting another hex slipped on the suddenly unstable ground. It was impressive they had done all the spell casting silently, a result of Shumway's habit of taking points when a spell was spoken after fifth year. While Miller's arms suddenly pin-wheeled while he tried to get his balance back Francis cast a tarantallegra jinx at him causing Miller's legs to suddenly start uncontrollably dancing leading to him face planting on the platform and ending the duel.

Bellamy and Roma helped Miller up and checked him while Shumway congratulated Francis, the ponce. Crossing his fingers he hoped he got to go next, maybe one of his spells could 'accidentally' hit Shumway. It was a pleasant thought at least. Miller seemed slightly dazed and grateful when Roma cast the counter to the jinx that was causing his legs to continue to jerk uncontrollably.

Shumway didn't even give a pause to check on Miller, causing Bellamy to almost growl. "Monroe, Albert you're up. Try not to embarrass yourself like Mr. Miller there."

A firm hand on his shoulder from Miller was all that kept Bellamy from saying anything. Monroe winked at them before jumping up the stage. It was a cruel matchup. Monroe wasn't to be sneezed at power or skill wise while Albert was a quiet Hufflepuff who had problems with silent casting.

Sure enough the match didn't take long. Monroe threw several silent blasting hexes in a row while Albert pulled up a shield that shivered in the air and then faltered letting him be thrown against the wall. His friends quickly collected him while Monroe jumped down. Bellamy patted her on the back briefly while he glared at Shumway daring him to call him up.

"Well let's bring up some people who can actually duel. Dax, Griffin, show them how it's done." The condescending look he gave the class was enough to make Bellamy's blood boil.

He watched as Dax leaned over whispering something into Griffin's ear before swaggering up. Griffin seemed to roll her shoulders while removing her school robe before stepping up. He wondered idly which one of the two stuck up snobs he wanted to lose more. The look on Griffin's face was annoying, it would be nice to watch her calm mask get wiped off.

The duel began in a rather startling manner. Griffin transformed the robe she had been holding into a shield that she used to absorb a sickly purple curse Dax had launched at her. A flaming whip came roaring from the tip of her wand that she sent flickering towards Dax whose eye's widened as he brought up a shimmering shield that rippled as the flames washed over it.

Harper spoke the group's opinion going "Holy shit."

As the flames died slightly Dax dropped his shield sending a powerful cutting hex across the platform. Griffin dodged while throwing a banishing hex at him in one smooth motion. Dax seemed to catch the banishing hex and returned it with a full body swish of his wand. Griffin caught it with her transfigured shield although it caused the shield to shatter. Not wasting time with any of the superficial cuts Clarke transfigured the shards of her shield into knives before sending them flying at Dax. Cursing under his breath he brought them to a stop with a silent immobilizing curse that prevented him from returning fire before Griffin could twirl her wand sending a shining yellow curse at him. Dodging he turned the knives that had been hanging in the air around and back at Griffin. They harmlessly turned back into the pieces of her robe with flick of her wand. Both students sent red curses flying at each other that seemed to implode as they collided. Using the slight distraction, Griffin threw a disarming jinx with a sharp jab that hit Dax before he could pull up a shield in time. She caught his wand easily with her left hand while sending a stunning charm with her right.

Bellamy stared as Griffin calmly walked back to her place by the wall accepting congratulations from her Ravenclaw friend. "What crawled up princess's ass?" He looked at Roma. She was an endless supply of gossip.

"Griffin and Dax had a falling out over a rejected marriage proposal this summer." She hissed back at him while Shumway stepped up on the stage after taking care of Dax who was glaring darkly at Griffin while moving back to his position.

"Excellent job you two, truly a credit to your house, ten points to Slytherin to each of you. Now who wants to tell me why they were the only one's to perform adequately?"

A snickering Slytherin Parkinson raised his hand. "Well sir everyone else used jinxes and hexes any sixth year should know. you can't win a proper duel with school book pranks."

Bellamy shoved his hand up. "Griffin took him down with two third year hexes, the only difference is that they didn't seem to care about injuring each other."

Parkinson turned round towards him, "Like a banishing hex can't harm someone, idiot, not sure what else I'd expect from you though."

"In a controlled environment the worst a banishing charm should do is cause some bruising. Those severing charms could have killed someone!" Bellamy felt himself fuming. This was a class, deadly curses shouldn't be used.

"Ten points from Gryffindor, keep yourself under control Mr. Blake." Shumway turned to the Ravenclaw standing near Griffin. "Can you tell me why Mr. Miller didn't stand a chance in his duel Reyes?"

Reyes straightened up "He cast a targeted defense without knowing the spell cast at him. It was a wager that the spell would be a straight frontal attack. Typical Gryffindor mistake but a necessary evil in a duel when the opponents are this close to each other."

"Acceptable. Parkinson anything to add?" Shumway dismissed Reyes quickly as he turned back to one of his purebloods.

"His dodging was sloppy and mugglish, you should glide round a spell not throw yourself out of the way."

"Good, five points. Now moving on"

Bellamy clenched his jaw while Shumway's voice washed over him. It was a pattern he was used to but that never stopped to piss him off. Shumway would ignore correct answers from any muggleborn students while giving points to purebloods regardless of whether they deserved it or not. The class turned into a criticism of the muggleborn competitors and any mistakes of the half blood or pureblood duelists were ignored. By the time the class ended he could practically feel steam coming from his ears.

Leaving class he found himself wishing he had quidditch practice that evening to workout some aggression. As he left he noticed Atom leaving Shumway's office. With a vindictive grin, he made his way to lunch with his friends, that ass Shumway had a surprise coming for him.

At dinner Shumway showed up with his hands wrapped up in bandages courtesy of the fireworks left in his desk. Several low fives between potatoes and pie were had. That should teach the asshole. It was a good start to the year. Parkinson had it coming as well he mused as he listened to Octavia talk about her care of magical creatures class and how the nifflers had gotten loose, they'd spent most of the class chasing the little things.

The tower was welcoming as they all trooped up to the painting of the fat lady. One "Bertie Botts Every Flavored Beans" later the portrait swung open letting them in. He came to a stop at the sight of Shumway standing at the foot of the stairs up to their dorms smiling at them. It was not a good smile. Seeing Dax and Griffin coming out of their respective genders dorms holding lists while walking with a teacher he felt his blood freeze. They had put their contraband back after the lack of a search the night before. Professor Vera from the arithmancy class was holding a large bag of contraband while Griffin and Dax were handing their lists to Shumway.

"Well is seems that we have some bad seeds here in the tower. Students found to have contraband in their trunks will report to the groundskeepers shack every night this week after dinner for detention. In addition Gryffindor is penalized 150 points. Lists of who will be attending detention will be found on the bulletin board." With that he walked over to the board and stuck the two lists on the board before making his way out through the portrait. Dax his faithful dog was quick to follow him while professor Vera and Griffin left at a slower pace. Bellamy found his eyes caught by a surprisingly vicious glare from Griffin before she left.

Walking over to the list he stared at the names. "This is bullshit! There isn't a single pureblood's name on this." The other members of the house started murmuring in anger. Bellamy jumped up on the coffee table by the fire making sure he had the rooms attention. "We aren't taking this crap this year. The prejudice of the fucking purebloods has gone too far. How many times have we been denied points only because of our blood status? And how many times have we lost points for things a pureblood would never lose them for? It's going to be worse this year too, after the death of that Jaha brat they're going to be seeking revenge. So I say we give them a taste of their own medicine. Let's make sure they know there is a price for abusing us. The damn bigots won't know what hit them! Let's give them hell!" He shook his fist with his last line his eyes flashing in resolve and anger.

His friends and a majority of the house started cheering their approval. He grinned while looking at his friends, let the purebloods know they were coming for them, it was war and he was going to win.


	3. Chapter 3

Clarke slipped through the door to an unused classroom. The smells of potions brewing and the unmistakable bite of moonshine hit her nose as she closed the door behind her. Her first genuine smile of the day took hold as she saw Monty and Jasper muttering over a cauldron that was turning a worrying shade of purple with a little more smoke and fumes coming off it than she thought could possibly be normal. Raven was tinkering with a muggle device of some sort in her corner of the room. This was just what she needed she thought as she walked over to her and Wells' corner, filled with notebooks written in the code they came up with when they were little.

"Oh god what is that smell!" Raven suddenly exclaimed as she started waving her hands around, "What did you do to that potion!?"

"It wasn't us!" Jasper responded before his nose crinkled up in disgust at the smell.

"Griffin what the hell, did you roll in troll dung?"

Clarke pulled out her wand and started casting air freshening charms and cleaning charms at her robes. "Unicorn actually and I'd gotten used to the smell, sorry about that."

"I thought you were supervising detention not rolling in shit." Raven commented as she cast a bubble head charm on herself.

"My batch of morons were purifying unicorn dung for professor Byrne to use in her next potions class. I swear these detentions are getting grosser everyday. Also Monty why do you have scales?" Clarke narrowed her eyes at the green scales peeking out of his loosened collar. If someone had cursed Monty there would be hell to pay.

Monty found himself gulping slightly at the look in his friend's eyes, "It was nothing, Jasper and I are taking care of it." He glanced at the purple potion subtly.

Jasper cut in before Clarke could say anything, "Articus thought it'd be a laugh to curse some of the half bloods. So we're going to turn him into a snake for a few hours."

"This has got to stop." Clarke put her head in her hands.

"So does this mean you're going to stop us from turning him into a snake?" Jasper asked.

"No, just please only turn him into a snake. We don't need mass panic and people being stepped on." She groaned before hauling her research notes on wolfsbane potion out of her bag. Tilting her head slightly she considered the new prefect duties Articus was going to find himself handling. "You aren't permanently turning him into a snake correct?"

"We haven't quite finished the reversing the transformation part yet." Monty admitted while rubbing the back of his head.

"We'll figure it out, and it won't be a loss if he's stuck as a snake forever, the git deserves it." Jasper muttered while going back to chopping what looked like mandrake leaf.

"It would be an improvement really," Raven added from her corner where she was fiddling with….something. It would probably explode.

"True," Clarke snorted, "but in the interest of not getting expelled you should really avoid having it be permanent." Clarke glanced at the mandrake leaf. "Why the mandrake?"

Monty perked up, "We need a stabilizing agent with rejuvenating effects we can have slow released to return him to his original state. At first we were going to use the root but that would be too potent and return him back to normal almost instantly."

"Are you sure it won't bond the ingredient you're using as a base for the snake transformation making it permanent? Mandrake tends to cause long lasting if not permanent results." Clarke put her book down and walked over to the boys and their cauldron.

"I didn't think of that…" Jasper stopped slicing leaves and pulled out a notebook with ingredients written down on it. "We're using the scales of a common garden snake as the base for the transformation, it doesn't have magical properties on its own so we were assuming it wouldn't affect the other ingredients unexpectedly."

Clarke hummed as she reached out and took the ingredient list from Jasper and thumbed through it. "You're theory is sound but there is a risk of the mandrake bonding with the scales, you need a barrier to prevent the two from mixing properly." She handed the book back to the boys.

"That's not possible since we used beetle eyes as a thickener already." Monty said as he looked at the potion dimly. "We're going to have to start over aren't we?"

Clarke frowned, "Not necessarily. If you use runes to set up a curse on it now before you add the mandrake leaf the curse should keep the two from mixing."

Raven perked up suddenly paying attention. "Curses are really advanced and definitely not taught here, do you even know how to do that?"

Clarke rolled her eyes, "Pureblood from an old family with family magic remember." Pointing out that she was quite well versed in dark magic wasn't really necessary information to share.

"Which is so cool sometimes, can you help us cast the curse?" Jasper grinned, there were just so many options with cursing.

"Of course, you can't tell anyone that I taught you this or show anyone because it's technically illegal when performed outside of family property. Tier 1 curses are only legal when performed by a pureblood on a family property so don't get caught using it." Clarke caught their eyes hoping to impart the seriousness of the situation, but it had no effect the three of them were excited and grinning widely, Jasper looked rather malicious. Three nods to the question of whether they'd keep the secret and Clarke began. "So for this prank the best option would be a subtle paranoia curse. It shouldn't affect Articus too noticeably and should wear off if we don't overpower it. First we need to inscribe the curse onto parchment before adding it to the potion. Fortunately it's a basic curse so no ritual or sacrifice other than magic is needed." And so the potion was created with three eager learners and one mildly viscious teacher

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

Clarke was going to enjoy lunch today, it didn't matter she'd already been forced to give out four detentions after jinxes aimed her way had failed. The Gryffindors were getting out of hand...maybe she should have them start transcribing sections from a muggle logic textbook for detention? Shaking her head slightly she turned her attention back to Thalia who was arguing with Fox over whether Professor Binns actually graded their history essays or if a house elf did it for him.

"I'm just saying that he's a ghost not a poltergeist he can't possibly physically interact with the essays." Fox said as she added some cream to her tea.

"If Binns is incapable of grading our work or writing up our exams Headmistress Sydney would have replaced him, or Merlin, the last three headmasters would have replaced him. It would be ridiculous to keep a teacher on staff who was incapable of doing their job." Thalia replied. "Clarke support me here."

Clarke focused her eyes on her friends while watching from the sides of her eye as Jasper dosed Articus' pumpkin juice with their prank potion over at the Ravenclaw house table. Switching charms were so very useful for espionage. "Even if a house elf is the one interacting with the physical requirements for a professor, he would have to be supervising the grading or else as you said, he would have been replaced." Clarke went back to watching Articus drinking his now drugged pumpkin juice.

There was a five second period before the potion worked. Articus went up in a purple cloud. Once it cleared there was just a pile of clothes and a snake trying to make its way out. Clarke smiled while the rest of the great hall burst into laughter as the garden snake hissed at the students sitting near it. George, the Hufflepuff sixth year prefect, picked up the snake version of Articus and asked him if he needed to be carried to the hospital. Articus responded by biting him.

George's response was dignified as expected of a pureblood as he yelped, "Fucking hell!" And started wildly swinging his hand that now had an attached snake hanging off one finger. With an abrupt change in direction on a swing Articus' jaw gave out and the snake went flying across the hall and landed on the Gryffindor house table.

It really was unfortunate for Articus that he ended up on that particular table. Wands came out and stinging hexes began to fly as the bully found himself at the mercy of some of his chief victims. Clarke pulled herself up and walked over to the red and gold table of chaos before raising her wand. A sound like a cannon going off erupted from her wand as she jabbed it at the ceiling. A hush fell as she watched Bellamy shoot off one last stinging hex at the frazzled looking student turned snake.

"Articus don't you dare bite me, if you do I'm docking twenty points from you." Clarke leveled a glare at the snake, the amusement in her crinkled eyes wasn't noticed by most of the students. Once the snake dipped its head in acknowledgement. reaching out she grabbed the now cowed snake before turning to the table. "Blake don't think I didn't see that last stinging hex, clean up the table before your next class or you'll be sitting detention with me tonight, again." With that Clarke turned on her heel and made her way to the medical wing. If she held Articus just a tad too tight, well he really had it coming.

Jumping over the trick step she quickly made her way to the medical wing. As she entered she saw Healer Jackson brewing what smelled like a dreamless sleep potion by the farthest window. Smiling she walked towards him. "We have a patient Jackson, it's probably just an easy counter charm but since I'm afraid the student lost his clothes I assumed it was best to move him here first."

Jackson looked up from his potion casting a silent stasis charm on it before getting up. "Excellent job Ms. Griffin as always. Would you put him on the bed over there before we return him to normal please."

"Of course, you should probably be the one to change him back so he can keep some of his dignity. I'll finish the potion for you." Clarke smiled at Jackson as he nodded before heading over and pulling the privacy curtains round the bed holding the dejected snake on it.

As Clarke removed the stasis charm on the potion and started sprinkling some cinnamon in it for taste, she grinned quietly to herself hearing Jackson getting increasingly frustrated as Articus refused to turn back into his normal human self. When a flustered Jackson came back out from behind the privacy curtain Clarke quickly wiped her face of any amusement.

"Put that potion back under stasis and come over here Ms. Griffin. It would seem our lesson today is going to be potion detection and removal." Jackson went and grabbed some parchment before heading back to the cursed Articus' bedside.

"Of course Jackson, you did say the school hospital wing was the best way to gain practical experience when you accepted my apprenticeship." Clarke smiled at him before following to watch Articus suffer through several invasive tests for rare potions until the one he was dosed with wore off. Taking the apprenticeship under Jackson had been the best decision she'd ever made.


	4. Chapter 4

Bellamy jogged up the path to Hogsmeade. He was running late thanks to a morning detention for jinxing a Slytherin using slurs against some first year Hufflepuffs. He was pretty sure he was breaking the record for most detentions earned in the first month of school. The village came into sight and he found himself enjoying the view of the quaint town, smoke blowing out of chimneys and the obvious magical aspects like the fountain where the water spiraled artistically. He paused to breath in deeply and catch his breath surrounded by the village full of chattering students, the magical world for all its racist shit was beautiful. Taking one last deep breath he pushed open the door to The Three Broomsticks and shoved his way past students crowding round the counter with a liberal use of elbows, to get to the table at the back where his friends were waiting for him.

"You made it!" Atom greeted him shoving a butterbeer towards the open seat Bellamy dropped into.

"Of course I did, a little detention never stopped me." Grinning he popped the lid of his butterbeer and took a deep drag.

Harper shifted in her seat uneasily, "Just be careful round Shumway, I've been hearing some nasty rumors about his detentions. No one will talk about them though, which is bad in its own way."

"It can't be that bad, it's a school. There are lines the man can't cross." Miller added from across the table.

"I don't know, he looks at us weird and it gives me chills." Roma added.

"I'll be sure to protect you." Bellamy wiggled his eyebrows at her enjoying the ensuing blush.

"Oh please like you could do anything besides prank the man. Keep your gross flirting away." Octavia made a fake gagging motion.

"Did you see the paper today?" Harper said while elbowing Bellamy to prevent him from making a comment back at Octavia.

"I don't read that worthless rag. It's a bunch of prejudiced rot. The magical world doesn't even have laws so you can sue them for false information. Can't trust the ink it's written on. Backwards assholes." Bellamy glowered darkly at the mention of the press, incorrect information was insulting to him, print should be dependable.

"Everyone knows the Prophet is rubbish, but that doesn't mean it wasn't interesting. The aurors arrested some people for attacking members of the Wizengamot. There wasn't very much information but that's just crazy." Harper frowned at the stupidity.

"Stuck up idiots could use being taken down a notch or two." Roma piped in.

"Sure but it's getting dangerous, those new laws after the Jaha brat's death are making things harder." Atom added his two sickles.

Bellamy felt the familiar pang of guilt at the news of Wells' death. Not that he cared about the stuck up purist, but Charllote should never have become a killer. Running his hand through his hair he changed the topic. "There's not much we can do about stupid government wankers, but we can deal with the wankers here at Hogwarts." Leaning in he asked, "Did you get the stuff?"

"Of course!" Monroe patted a rather large bag next to her.

"This is a terrible idea, you know that right?" Harper looked around the table. "I mean no one is stupid enough not to know it's us."

"That's not the point, as long as they can't prove it we're golden." Atom smiled, pulling his shoulders back making sure Octavia was watching him.

"Yeah the number of detentions we all have been sitting says otherwise." Monroe chucked a bottle cap at Atom.

"You're welcome to quit if you don't think it's worth it." Bellamy stared down Monroe.

"Of course I think it's worth it! Just maybe we should be a little more careful about not getting caught. I'm going to lose my badge if I get caught again this week. Clarke pulled me aside yesterday to talk to me about it yesterday." Monroe hung her head at being forced to voice her concerns.

"What the princess bothered to get her own hands dirty? That's new." Octavia scoffed.

"No, she just reminded me that if I get brought before Sydney Dax's threats about losing my badge wouldn't just be hot air."

"Ignore her, I don't trust anything out of her mouth." Atom glared at his butterbeer remembering a lot of lines from a muggle text book he'd been forced to write out the night before.

"I don't know, she at least puts a stop to the bullying when it's in front of her." Harper interjected.

"As long as she doesn't stop me from spending quality time in the astronomy tower I don't care." Roma grinned, "If you know what I mean."

"Oh gross! We don't want to hear about your latest conquest." Monroe wrinkled her nose.

"Ignore her, I definitely do." Octavia grinned while leaning in towards her friend.

Bellamy's attention wandered as his sister and Roma started talking boys. The place was calming down and it no longer looked like a mad house. The tinkling of the bell above the door caught his attention. Minister Jaha walked in, all casual arrogance and fake smiles as he talked with the aforementioned princess. Griffin was clearly paying attention to whatever he was prattling about as he led her back towards one of the private back rooms that could be reserved for dinner parties. He scoffed, of course the princess and the Minister wouldn't lower themselves to use a booth or table like normal people. Turning back to the group he smiled, these were his family, they were good people and he would destroy anyone who hurt them.

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

Miller's eyes were closed tightly as he waved his wand in a complicated series of movements, golden light trailing behind his wand, his voice quiet as he murmured the incantation. Bellamy could feel a bead of sweat dripping down his spine as he stood squinting his eyes keeping watch. His fingers were going to leave nail impressions in his palms from how tightly he was clenching them. Enchanting took forever, but it would be so worth it if it payed off. Finally, the chanting from Miller came to an end and the soft golden glow sunk into the tapestry.

"It's done, let's get out of here." Miller followed Bellamy's lead as they started making their way out of the dungeon.

The rush of euphoria from a successful prank and the distraction of mischievous grins being exchanged meant that the two boys rounded the corner without checking first. They ran almost directly into Shumway.

"What would a pair of Gryffindors be doing down here then?" Shumway leveled an emotionless glare on the two students.

"Just taking a stroll," Bellamy casually swung an arm out gesturing to the hallway, "dank dungeon hallways are just my aesthetic at the moment."

"What about you Mr. Miller, just taking a stroll as well?"

"Yes sir, lovely evening for it. Just couldn't help ourselves." Miller tried not to smile.

"Well I'm afraid I just won't be able to help myself from insisting you help me with preparing for my second year defense class tomorrow then. It is such an excellent evening for it after all."

"No thanks, sir." If sir could be used as a swear word Bellamy was the one who could do it. "I'm afraid we're meeting some friends after they get out of dinner."

"That's just too bad then, I'm sure you'll survive without your friends for a few hours." He smiled then and the boys knew they were going to be doing an unofficial detention for a crime they hadn't been caught doing. The unfairness of it burned, even if they had been up to no good.

"Yes sir." Bellamy bit out.

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

"Merlin's fucking balls! Are you ok Miller?" Bellamy conjured a rag to wrap his hand before adjusting his hold on Miller and helping him stumble towards the hospital wing.

"I've had worse." Miller said as he allowed Bellamy to take some more of his weight by leaning into him some more.

"This is taking it too far," Bellamy growled.

"What are we going to do about it? Go to Sydney? Dax? Face it Bellamy this is something you can't fix." Miller rolled his eyes at Bellamy's insistence of always getting even.

"Forcing us to catch and secure hundreds of cornish pixies without magic isn't ethical. They have venom in their claws." He bit out in disgust.

"We could always release the little monsters in his office, he'll have to keep the cages in there after his class tomorrow." Miller suggested.

"That's brilliant Miller, we can get one of the fourth years to release them during dinner so we have an alibi." Bellamy's smile was rather on the vicious side. "Come on, one more stair case. And hey next time you have to catch the things we know that pumpkin juice attracts them like flies so spilling it on your pants beforehand is a terrible idea."

"Your sister is the one who spilled it all over my leg." Miller hissed as he took another step putting weight on his clawed to hell leg.

"Maybe we can stick some pumpkin in Shumway's hair before he gets to his office, bald could work for him."

Miller just snorted as they got to the top of the stairs and pushed open the door to the medical wing. He cursed under his breath at the sight of Clarke Griffin doing an inventory check.

Bellamy tried to back out, they just needed to steal the potions needed to close up the cuts and draw the venom out, not the questions that would come from being examined. After all it hadn't been an official detention, no way Shumway would back up a story about where they'd come in contact with enough cornish pixies to do actual damage. Sadly the door hinges gave a creak as they tried to hobble back out.

Griffin's head snapped round, "Sweet Merlin what the hell have you two been up to?" She exclaimed while walking quickly over to them and helping drag Miller to the closest bed. "Sit, both of you."

Bellamy and Miller looked at her mutinously but did as she said, after all they did hurt. Bellamy watched her with careful eyes as waved her wand over Miller's leg till it started to glow a soft green. She looked up at both of them with an unreadable expression, "I suppose this was just a random accident then?"

Neither boy said anything as she walked over to the shelves and pulled out several potions and walked back towards them. A half dozen spells later and their cuts were sealed over with fresh pink new skin and foul potions were forced down their throats.

"Your bedside manner could use some work princess." Bellamy grimaced as he downed the last of the pixie anti venom that would take care of the swelling and stinging.

"I'll keep that in mind." She deadpanned while sticking the empty bottles on a tray. "You're both good to head back to your dorms, don't put extra pressure on the new skin and avoid showering till the morning if you can help it. The skin will be extra sensitive for another five hours or so."

Bellamy stood up and awkwardly nodded to her before pulling himself and Miller towards the door. They made it about four steps before a sigh of defeat from behind them stopped him in his tracks.

"Oh for gods-sake, you lot are going to get yourselves killed with this ridiculous rebellion of yours. I want in."

"What!" Bellamy spluttered ignoring the flabbergasted expression on Miller's face.

"This is the eighth hospital visit I've had in the last week that I'm going to have to misfile as an 'accident'," her fingers came up in air quotes at the word 'accident'. "And don't even get me started on how much supervising all of your detentions is cutting into my studying time. So I want in. I can help you avoid getting caught and worst case scenario give you better detentions than anyone else is going to give you." She crossed her arms in front of her chest, frustration oozing off her in an unholy light.

"But you're a pureblood." Bellamy pointed out, "Why would you want to waste your time helping a bunch of half bloods and muggleborns fight back against well, you lot." This was ridiculous, all of it was ridiculous.

"You don't know me Blake and I find the moronic prejudices held by my peers useless and counterproductive. But I don't see how any of that matters. The way I see it you include me and accept my help or else I go to Sydney with all these hospital visits I've been getting after hours for 'accidents'. Not to mention the patrol schedule for the prefects keeps the prefects from each house mainly around their own house's hallways, that could always be changed. I'd be seeing a lot more of you in detention if that happened wouldn't I." It wasn't a question.

Bellamy glared trying to understand what the dratted Slytherin wanted. But there wasn't much he could do was there, she could make his and his friends' lives hell, even more than it already was if she went through with her threats. "Fine." He bit out.

"Good, I'll expect an invite to your next meeting for planning things out." She turned around with the tray of empty potion bottles.

Gritting his teeth Bellamy left the wing with Miller on his heels. Half way down the hall he spun on Miller. "Tell everyone, I want to know everything there is to know about Griffin."


	5. Chapter 5

Clarke hummed quietly as she read the day's prophet. Nothing particularly interesting was catching her eye but the opinion piece on the dangers of muggleborns in light of the attacks on Wizengamot members hidden several pages in was noteworthy. It was nothing new, but troubling all the same. Flipping the page she scanned for any more information on attacks, it didn't take long for her eyes scanning the paper to confirm her suspicion that she hadn't missed anything. Pulling out one of her notebooks she added the names of the muggleborns listed in the paper before closing the notebook and stuffing it back into her bag. Keeping track of corruption was difficult even with her access to multiple members of the government. Tapping her fountain pen against her juice glass she frowned one last time before folding her paper and setting it aside.

"And she lives." Thalia looked over at her before going back to the sandwich she'd constructed.

Rolling her eyes Clarke replied, "Yes I'm sure my desire to stay informed will be the end of me."

"Undoubtedly, you're going to turn into a little old man with your chess and newspaper habits. Tragic really how the best and brightest are doomed to early graves." She responded sarcastically.

"I'll be an informed corpse however," Clarke reached over and served herself some potatoes and baked ham.

"It's not like you're going to go into politics, I don't understand how current events are so dire to follow for someone going into the medical field."

"You'd think, but just think of all the extra menstruation potions I'll be making this month since the price of the imports in France are going to go up." Clarke raised an eyebrow at Thalia before going back to cutting her ham into appropriate sized pieces.

"How do you know the price is going to go up? And can I reserve a bottle from you before the rush sets in?"

"The newspaper, apparently there was a fire in the calendula fields of the largest grower. According to the prophet it was a case of accidental magic. But with the calendula ruined they'll have to import it from Germany for their potioneers and well we all know how awful the French and German relations are, the prices will go up and every female in the school will be going to the med wing for it instead of owl ordering." Clarke nodded at the end of her statement before beginning to eat her lunch.

"Fine, keep reading your boring papers, apparently it is useful. Although you can always have the students in detention with you help with the brewing."

"You want Bellamy Blake anywhere near the menstruation potions?" The incredulous look Clarke leveled at Thalia caused her to squirm slightly.

"Right, never mind. How far are they into transcribing that awful muggle ethics textbook anyways?" Thalia grinned amused by the punishment Clarke was inflicting on the misbehaving students.

"Well they're all in different places, but Blake has gotten to chapter twelve since that blasted tapestry he and Miller enchanted to try to strangle everyone who passed by it." Clarke frowned, the tapestry had been a nightmare, it could have seriously hurt someone.

Thalia snorted before turning back to her lunch. The two friends ate quietly before they were interrupted by a throat being cleared. Clarke looked behind her at the cause of the noise and saw a nervous looking Bellamy. His eyes were darting up and down the Slytherin table before focusing on her. Her eyes widened...he couldn't possibly be doing what she thought he was doing.

He opened his mouth, "Remember that project we talked about, well we are having a get together to work on it right now." He shifted so that he was standing with his shoulders out attempting to hide his obvious discomfort.

Clarke felt an inclination for her jaw to drop for the first time in her life. Apparently he was doing what she thought he was. Blinking slowly, she pulled herself together. Standing she grabbed her book bag before nodding to him and following when he turned and walked out of the great hall. There was nothing she could say to make his stupidity better. As they left the great hall she ran a hand through her hair while increasing her pace. His legs were longer and he was quickly outstripping her as he quickly headed up to the Gryffindor common room. He threw a quick, "Keep up Griffin." Several flights of stairs later and Clarke came to the unfortunate realization Bellamy could not sense the danger he was in if her eyes could cause combustion. The painting of the fat lady was open already as a third year slipped inside the room. Following quickly Clarke ignored the glares she was getting from all sides.

Once inside the gold and red common room she looked around taking in the area. The students hanging around the dorm on a Saturday afternoon weren't paying much attention but the ones who did notice her glared. Bellamy seemed confident that she'd follow him as he failed to so much as pause in the common room just heading straight up to the boy's dorm. Clarke felt her eye twitch as she followed him. This was a disaster in the making, but one she was going to follow through with to the end. One last flight of stairs and finally they made it to their destination, apparently the terrors of the school were meeting in the seventh year Gryffindor boys room. As the door closed behind her Clarke saw the distrustful looks the assembled students were giving her. There were only a few of them though, Bellamy's closest friends and the major instigators. She supposed he deserved some credit for not bringing her to a meeting with all the morons following his orders.

"What's she doing here?" Roma yelped glancing around clearly looking for anything incriminating.

"Princess here asked to join in." Bellamy said, there was clear derision in his tone.

Before Clarke could narrow her eyes at him any more Octavia spoke up. "Oh what are you doing here princess? Gonna rat us all out to Sydney? You don't belong in this tower let alone in this meeting." She tilted her chin up challengingly.

Clarke brushed off the insults, "If I was going to go to Sydney I would have done it already, I'd be happy to compile a list of every Gryffindor currently involved in your antics. If you think I haven't been aware of your actions since the second day of school you are sadly mistaken. As to not belonging here, well I may be in a different house but I'm a descendant of your founder. Honestly my surname is Griffin, it isn't that large of a leap."

"How the fuck did you end up in Slytherin if you're the heir of Gryffindor?" Atom burst out.

Rolling her eyes heaven ward she sighed. "First I'm not the heir of Godric, the main line died out two goblin rebellions ago, I'm from the line of his third son and even then it's a bit convoluted like most pureblood family trees. The amount of inbreeding is honestly disturbing. Second a person is sorted by attributes not family. Although I am the first member of my family to be sorted outside of this house since the school's founding. I'm more concerned that you apparently know nothing about one of the two students with the most power to make your lives hell. Did none of you seriously research Dax or I after we were appointed to the head positions?" Clarke looked at the assembled students incredulously.

"Normal people don't do background checks on classmates." Bellamy said while looking at her like she had two heads.

"I've supervised over two dozen detentions of yours and saved you from more than that and you never bothered to find out why?"

"You never saved me from anything." He glared at her ignoring the confusion around the room.

"You're kidding? Do you know how many of your followers I've healed with no questions asked? Or do you realize how much trouble I got you out of by giving you detentions before Dax or one of the staff could do it? You think your stunt with the tapestry would have only gotten you an unofficial detention with Shumway and writing some lines with me if someone else had gotten to you first?"

"Shumway crossed a line, and the tapestry thing wasn't a big deal." Bellamy shrugged. The other students watched the fight like a tennis match.

"Not that big of a deal!" Clarke let out a slightly strangled sound. "You enchanted a tapestry to strangle passersby next to a common room entrance, what would have happened do you think if a first or second year got stuck in that before we could take it down? You could have killed someone. That's not a prank. I shouldn't even have to openly help you but if someone doesn't step in the aurors are going to get involved." If smoke could rise from human ears, it would have.

"This is Hogwarts, aurors aren't getting called in, you're crazy." Bellamy crossed his arms.

"Crazy? Do you think Sydney will protect a bunch of muggleborn and half blood mutts. She was one of the most elitist politicians of the last decade before she took the headmistress position. Jaha thought she was out of control, and if you haven't noticed the new laws going through you're thicker than I thought."

Octavia interjected. "Why do you think the aurors would be called in. These are just pranks to get even."

Clarke looked over at Octavia. "Because your pranks are getting out of control, someone is going to end up permanently hurt, and if it's the wrong person Sydney has the authority to call in the aurors. Anyone over the age of fourteen can be tried as an adult. You'll be lucky if you only get an Azkaban sentence. And before you start saying anything you will be caught." Clarke rubbed her forehead. "I'm going to have to explain to my entire house by the way why I'm helping a half blood with terrorizing the school. You may as well have slapped a sticker with the words 'blood traitor' on my back and been done with it. Use a school owl to send me meeting times from now on."

"I just asked you to come finish a class project." Bellamy frowned at her. "Don't be so dramatic princess."

"Blake we don't associate outside of detention. We have never associated with each other. There isn't a single teacher in this school who would assign me to work with you. We don't have sports or clubs in common. I am the student from the most influential bloodline in my house, believe me, my housemates will have noticed. I hope you're prepared for my house comparing you to your mother. They all will know I'm involved with your group now, but they won't want other houses realizing that so they're going to imply I'm sleeping with you." Clarke looked him in the eye.

"Fuck." Bellamy groaned.

"Exactly, think before you act. I can be a useful resource for you but being openly connected with me can be damaging as well."

"I still don't trust you. Why would you want to help us?" Monroe spoke up. "You warned us about the trunk searches too."

"If you'd done your homework you'd know my father was the leader of a movement pushing for more rights for muggleborns. I agree with him, and the blood politics are ridiculous. I'm no better than any of the rest of you, or different in any fundamental way. The treatment you are being subjected to here at school and what you will be subjected to outside of these walls is horrendous and unjust. It needs to change, and the bigots who make use of their blood to walk all over you do need to be taken down a peg or two."

Bellamy looked back up from the ground, "If you're as pro muggleborn as you're saying why don't you have any friends who aren't purebloods?"

She raised her eyebrows, "Who says I don't? Just because I don't advertise my political leanings doesn't mean I don't have them. I'm of far more use to my friends entrenched with the purists and elitists. Also my friendship with Reyes is quite well known. Admittedly most assume it's because I sponsored her internship two years ago and plan on sponsoring her once she's out of Hogwarts."

"Why are you telling us all this?" Harper asked cautiously.

Clarke snorted. "Because no one would believe you if you told them, and mostly because I have goals for once I graduate and having your group owing me a favor or two is advantageous to me. There are things I cannot do and places I cannot go because of who I am that anyone of you could do. I was sorted into Slytherin for a reason."

"So what, you get us out of a detention or two and in exchange we help you buy illegal crap later on?" Miller scowled.

"No, I warn you of teacher or prefect activity that could lead to you getting caught, I take care of any injuries you can't explain to Jackson, I give you what information you need for your pranks on members of my house, I cover for you when I can, and when I can't I supervise your detentions. In exchange you agree to listen to any business propositions I bring before you after graduation. I can also help you get back to actual pranks and away from thinly veiled attacks." Clarke waited, it was in their hands now they would have to decide on whether to take her up on her offer.

Silence settled as the group whispered to each other and glanced around at each other. Finally, Bellamy walked into her space and held out his hand. "You have a deal princess."

Clarke reached out and shook his hand with a smile. "Good, send me an owl with your plans for the coming week and I'll send you back what I know and point out if a prank is crossing the line. If you need me immediately send Monroe, as a prefect she actually has reasons to speak to me." Nodding she turned to leave. Pausing she turned back round. "One more thing," Fast as lightning she sent a leg locker jinx at Bellamy. His legs snapped together. While his arms were pin-wheeling in an attempt to stay upright she cut over his swearing. "Never attempt to order me around again Blake." With a swish of her robes she left the room and made her way back out into the main castle.

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

The Slytherin common room was unusually quiet as Clarke wrote her history of magic essay. Her hair was brushed so it would fall over one shoulder, her robes were immaculate and everything even the chair she was sitting in, largest and closest to the fire, established her as the power in the room. Surprisingly it wasn't Dax who approached her but Ontari. The girl took the chair across from her before speaking up.

"I was unaware you were planning on sponsoring Blake. How long has that been a plan." The girl looked at her emotionlessly. Clarke could tell why she'd been chosen to question her, the blank look was legitimately unsettling, not that she showed it.

"Bellamy Blake isn't smart enough or well-connected enough for me to sponsor him." She looked up from her essay. Pretending to ignore Ontari wouldn't help.

"Well, he is cute." She paused, tilting her head before continuing. "If you're into that sort of thing. Course I suppose floppy hair and lesser blood is your thing isn't it?"

"One date in fifth year with a halfblood, a mistake I haven't made again, and you'd think I'd permanently sullied myself." Clarke inwardly smiled, the more Ontari had to dig the more false accusations could be laid to rest without it appearing like she was overly defensive. Dax's followers never were the brightest.

"Really, well if you're not sponsoring him and you're not sleeping with him whatever are you doing with a subpar member of the riffraff like him then?"

"The endless detentions are cutting into my research time. It wouldn't do for that to continue. Also I'd rather not wake to find my curtains trying to strangle me. If Sydney won't calm down the riff raff I will." Clarke theatrically sighed while waving one hand vaguely before pulling her essay back up.

The common room came back to life as the students continued with their evening activities. Ontari got up and left but not before nodding to her deferentially. She wouldn't know if her house accepted her lie or not for a week at least. A lot of that would depend on Blake. Pulling out a piece of paper she began a list of likely targets from every house, she added a note to only perform one prank per day. If there was a noticeable change in the behavior and frequency of the Gryffindors' behavior her position as queen of the house would continue unchallenged. After all, every Slytherin was a believer in the age old concept of keeping one's enemies close.


	6. Chapter 6

Bellamy felt the wind ruffling his hair as he circled the pitch on his broom. He hadn't had the free time to fly on his broom outside of quidditch practice since the school year had started. Tilting the handle of his broom downwards he fell towards the ground in a loose spiral before pulling his broom back up into the sky, the pressure of his weight from the change of direction letting his muscles strain pleasantly. Yawning he rose high enough to see the last of the sun slipping over the horizon. He'd need to head inside soon but not quite yet. Lazily he flew to the ground before alighting softly. Swinging his broom up onto his shoulder he walked towards the locker rooms. Miller was waiting for him on the grass next to the entrance. He was stretched out casually changing the color of the grass around him with playful jabs of his wand.

"You didn't have to wait for me." Bellamy said as came to a stop next to his friend.

"And let you do something stupid and get detention on your first free night of the year?" Miller gave him a cocky smile before jumping up and cracking his back. "Feels like the first break we've had in ages."

Laughing Bellamy walked into the locker rooms, "Remind me to get the princess to design studying schedules for us when it gets closer to exams."

"She'll hex you again if you try." Miller snorted as he pulled his book-bag over his shoulder.

Bellamy shoved him lightly on the shoulder, "She is surprisingly scary. I'd like to see you stand up to her."

"Not unless she sells us out, I value my manhood." Miller gestured towards his crotch with a raised eyebrow. The reference was to the unfortunate fate of Atom who'd tried to pull Clarke into a secret passageway the day before. Who knew stinging hexes could be cast that accurately and with that much staying power? He'd been speaking an octave higher for an hour.

Bellamy gave a sympathetic wince. "Did Sterling get the potion to the elves?"

"Yup, he sent a first year with the news. Recruiting some Hufflepuffs was a good call. Their access to the kitchens is useful."

"I'm sure being in Bryan's good books has nothing to do with your joy over recruiting Hufflepuff." He grinned suggestively at Miller.

"He thought I was being stupid not telling him about things." Miller hung his head slightly, "I probably have some more groveling left."

"This is why I don't do relationships, no groveling needed."

"It's also why you don't get laid often."

"Hey! I'll have you know I get laid just fine." Bellamy elbowed Miller as they walked up the winding path to the castle.

"Sure you do, you just haven't since last term. Admit it detention has killed your game." Miller jogged up ahead slightly to avoid getting elbowed again.

Bellamy muttered mutinously. "Fine, but I'm not the only one. We should see if we can plaster Byrnes potions room with muggle porn. Can you imagine her face? And if there is one person who needs the stick taken out of their ass it's her."

"I don't know, you might not want to inspire her, after all she'd probably go for Shumway."

Bellamy faked gagging, "Oh sweet Merlin, you have a sick mind Miller. Does your boyfriend know about this?"

"He likes my mind." Miller winked at Bellamy before slipping through a side door into the castle.

The two boys jogged up the stairs to their tower, the endless stairs really were great for keeping in shape. The hallway with the ogres was particularly gruesome, the paintings were all of various ogres from a medieval uprising. Bellamy loved this hall, it was like a window into history and watching the various characters moving about would never get old. He knew his habit of detouring through this hallway on the way back to the common room annoyed his friends, but well they'd live.

"Wait up!"

Bellamy looked behind him to see Octavia walking towards them. "What are you doing out so late?" He frowned, curfew started soon.

"I could ask you the same thing." She rolled her eyes at his protective tendencies.

"Were you meeting up with a boy? I thought Atom and you were done."

"Only because you scared him off. He was super sweet and transfigured butterflies for me Bell." Octavia was glaring at her brother as well. "But you had to make him stop even though he was always kind and sweet like that."

"You shouldn't be dating anyone, you're not old enough." Bellamy crossed his arms.

"I'm only a two years younger than you, and you had slept with half the quidditch team when you were a fifth year."

"That's different! You're not dating anyone."

"Just because you puff up your chest and say it doesn't make it so. You're not the boss of me Bellamy."

"Yes, I am. It's my job to protect you, it's always been my job."

"Guys, do you hear that?"

"What?" Both siblings' heads snapped round to Miller.

"Nothing, just I thought I heard something." Miller raised his hands in surrender.

Bellamy opened his mouth to say something when they all heard a sharp cry of pain. Wide eyed he looked at his sister and friend, "Shit." He turned towards the sound of the cry and took off at full speed.

Skidding round the corner he found one of the second year's leaning against the wall clearly trying to hobble his way along.

"Holy shit, what happened to you?" Octavia blurted out from behind him. "Oh god, is that blood?"

The second year, Aden, at least Bellamy was pretty sure that was his name, grimaced while turning towards the noise. His shoulders slumped in defeat, "It's not as bad as it looks." His wince as his split lip opened more and left a fresh trail of blood down his chin was not convincing.

"We're going to the infirmary," Bellamy scooped up the skinny second year who just squawked in indignation. "O, go get Griffin and bring her to the infirmary."

"Right, hang in there kid." Octavia turned and sprinted towards the dungeons.

"Kid who did this to you?" Bellamy asked darkly while walking carefully so as not to jostle the kid who was breathing sharply, bruising forming on his pale skin. "Miller, go see if you can find any stragglers who may have done this."

Miller nodded and quickly followed the path it looked like Aden had been walking, the occasional blood drips weren't hard to follow as he disappeared from sight.

"You're going to be just fine kid, Griffin is going to patch you up good as new." Bellamy forced a smile at the kid while walking as quickly as he dared, they were only a floor away from the infirmary so it didn't take long to get there. Using his foot he kicked the door open and walked over to the nearest bed carefully putting the kid down. "Hey anything I can do while we wait for the princess? You know how royalty is they never are anywhere on time."

Aden let out a giggle. "Is Griffin trustworthy?" He looked up at Bellamy seriously.

Bellamy sighed, "I think so kid, she's been helping us out you know. She won't even list your injuries here if you don't want her to."

Aden nodded once and then looked at the wall. Before Bellamy could ask him more the doors slammed open and Octavia and Clarke came barreling in.

"Oh sweet Merlin, Bellamy move." Clarke was instantly in healer mode as she quickly started running diagnosis spells over the kid before she was up and heading for the shelves gathering a rather terrifying amount of potions. "Here drink this one for the pain before I start healing, it'll help." She pushed a potion with spiraling smoke towards Aden. He flickered his eyes to Bellamy in a silent question and didn't drink till Bellamy gave him a nod.

Bellamy watched as Clarke gently vanished the kids robes and started cleaning and then healing various abrasions. Once the bleeding had been stopped and he had several patches of new pink skin she started forcing a blood replenisher and another potion he was unsure of down the kid's throat. Like most potions they must not have tasted pleasant because the kids face screwed up in distaste. He spluttered after the second one and made a retching noise.

"I know they taste awful but you need it." Clarke murmured while she pulled his arm towards her gently and started weaving her wand over it before a soft glow rose from his arm. Looking back up at him she spoke again "I'm going to need your shirt off Trikru. Don't give me that look I know you have a broken rib and I need better access if you want it to heal properly." She may have been staring him into compliance but there was a gentleness to her face that Bellamy had never seen before. Aden huffed before pulling his shirt off. At the first sign of discomfort from the movement, Clarke reached out to help him pull his arms out.

Bellamy and Octavia both sucked in breaths at his torso, the kid was a mess of bruising and new pink skin. Watching Clarke repeating the same process as she had on his arm, Bellamy watched as Aden's face slowly relaxed and the lines of pain eased out. "Now can you tell me who did this to you?" Clarke rocked back onto her heels from where she had been crouching beside the kid.

Aden screwed up his face attempting to look away from Clarke. Bellamy found himself speaking up. "Aden you need to tell us, this wasn't ok. We're housemates, we stick together."

"It didn't have to do with houses or anything, it's my fight." He set his jaw stubbornly.

Bellamy was about to start interrogating the kid properly when he noticed Clarke's face harden.

"Ontari then?"

Aden's head snapped to Clarke's so quickly Bellamy worried about whiplash. "How?"

Clarke rested her hand on his shoulder. "I make it my business to know which of the students are from families that are on the brink of a blood feuds. And I know Ontari dislikes you personally."

His jaw shook a bit before he started speaking. "She was hexing some first year Ravenclaws this morning. I made her stop it. It wasn't right, just because they're muggleborns doesn't mean you can bully them. And like Bellamy said we can't let this stand any longer." The kid raised his chin slightly. "I should have known she'd get even, and that she wouldn't be fair about it. My cousin would never have been that stupid, she is always telling me to be careful of the Azgeda family, but I can't just do nothing!"

"How'd she get you on your own?" Clarke pulled herself up sitting on the bed across from Aden. Bellamy was surprised to hear the normally quiet and aloof second year quoting him.

"I was coming in from a detention with the groundskeeper and she called out to me. Normally I would have ignored it, lowering yourself to petty insults is weak." He said it like he was quoting someone again. "But she called my mother a werewolf bitch, asked if I knew what happened to her skin, cause she always wanted a wolf skin rug." Aden's fists balled up in the sheets and tears gathered in his eyes. He blinked them away as best he could. "I was just so angry. I didn't see the others and by the time I noticed them I was surrounded, the coward got others to help her." He spat the word 'coward' with derision rarely heard in a twelve year old.

Bellamy almost missed it but a look of pure hatred flashed across Clarke's eyes. She stood up almost rigidly, "I'll take care of it." Her voice was cold and sounded like ice. He felt a shiver go down his spine, and he knew down to his bones that Clarke could not be allowed to do whatever she was planning on doing. As she moved past him he grabbed her arm to stop her. She spun towards him a glare promising death leveled up at him. "Let go right now Blake."

"No." He drew himself up, "You're the one who said we needed to not do violent pranks, cursing a third year is not going to help anything. You were the one who said you couldn't be openly associated with us. You are going to throw all that away now because you're angry?" He felt the muscles under his hand flex almost vibrating with anger.

"A member of my house did this. And now there is a second year who could have died from the types of cutting spells and bludgeoning spells cast on him. Because why? His father dared to marry a werewolf. And next time or the time after that when this happens?" She practically spat out the last sentence.

Bellamy frowned, he'd never seen Griffin this angry. It was like trying to defuse a bomb. "You said you have plans for when you graduate. Are they worth the fall out if you take care of this personally? Let me handle this, he's a member of my house, he got her attention because he was listening to me." Bellamy felt guilt swirling in his gut, it hurt, was everyone who listened to him going to land in trouble like this? "You get me the names of any accomplices Miller doesn't find out about and I'll give them hell like they won't believe." Now wasn't the time for any guilt he felt over Charlotte.

At the mention of her plans the air seemed to be let out of Clarke and he felt her muscles losing some of their rigidity under his hand. "Fine." she yanked her arm out his grip before turning back round to the wide eyed Aden who was staring at her like she was some sort of revelation. "You take care of the reprisal but if you think I'm not going to destroy every person involved in this when I get the opportunity you have another thing coming. It may take me a while with any older students who helped her, but Ontari is going to learn a lesson about crossing people more powerful than her."

"What are you going to do to her?" Octavia piped up from where she was watching the exchange in similar wide eyed awe as Aden.

"She will be off the Slytherin quidditch team by morning, and there will not be a single member of my house willing to speak to her." Clarke breathed in seeming to calm herself. "Violence of this level cannot be tolerated. I'm going to make an example of her Slytherin will not soon forget."

"You can do that?" Octavia asked.

Clarke just raised an eyebrow at her briefly with an expression that so clearly said 'duh' that Bellamy found himself tempted to forget she was anything but the teenage princess he'd always assumed her to be. But no, she was far more than that and he found himself more and more inclined to trust her.

"Now Aden, I'm going to give you a dreamless sleep potion and a second pain potion. I want you to take the pain potion in the morning before breakfast. You need to take it easy tomorrow, try not to do too much magic. Let your body heal itself properly. I'd recommend bedrest but I doubt you'd listen to me. Can you do that?"

"Yeah." He was looking at her with a sort of dazed expression, Bellamy wondered if he was seeing the beginnings of the kids first crush.

Clarke turned back towards the Blake siblings, "Bellamy you're going to need to carry him back up to your dorms. You should be fine Monroe has the only patrol between here and the entrance. Make sure he takes it easy."

"I got it princess." He pulled off his school robe laying it over Aden's skinny shoulders. "We'll watch him and make sure he gets his potions."

"Good, now get out of here so I can clean up so Jackson doesn't notice the mess." She started disposing of the empty potion bottles.

Bellamy moved to let Aden jump up on his back. Before leaving the infirmary he glanced back at Clarke one last time before nodding at her and going back on their way. He felt the clinging arms of the kid and could hear his breathing in his ear. Checking on Octavia showed a surprisingly thoughtful look on her face. "You ok O?"

She spoke quietly, "She's really on our side isn't she?"

He could feel Aden shift slightly on his back. "I think so, at the very least she's not on their side." No the hatred he'd seen hadn't been fake. Whatever Clarke's side was it was definitely in opposition to the pureblood assholes. And well, 'enemy of my enemy is my friend'. "No she's on our side." And in the morning when he saw Ontari sitting on the edge of the Slytherin table with the seats around her empty, her robes missing their green trim and her house badge replaced with a generic Hogwarts crest, well he found himself glad that his group had her as an ally and not an enemy.


	7. Chapter 7

Clarke knocked on the door to headmistress Sydney's office. Opening the door she nodded to Sydney before moving towards the fireplace.

"Wait a moment would you Griffin." Sydney called out from behind her desk.

Turning she replied, "Is there something you needed ma'am?"

"Do give my greetings to the Minister." Her smile was poisonous.

"Of course, should I pass them onto my mother as well?"

Sydney seemed slightly surprised by the subtle dig, it wasn't a secret the two women couldn't stand each other. "Naturally, I'm sure she's looking forward to you taking the family Wizengamot seat so she can go back to her post at 's."

Clarke straightened the dress she was wearing for an evening event bringing together leaders from the Purist and Traditionalist parties and hosted by Minister Jaha. "I'm sure you're aware that the Griffin seat will wait while I pursue other avenues first. My mother assures me it's no great hardship to bear the burden while I gain the wisdom to do so myself."

"She must be thrilled." The slight grimace gave away the falseness of her words.

Clarke smiled at the women's discomfort, "Was there anything else?"

"No, be sure to return early enough to see to your duties." Sydney easily dismissed her moving toward one of her many bookshelves.

Clarke reached for the floo powder and was soon was swirling through the system before coming out of the grand fireplace at the Jaha estate.

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

Clarke sipped her flute of champagne while watching the room around her. The Minister of Magic, Thelonious Jaha's dinner parties were always a who's who of the political world. Even though it was a small party there were twenty guests from both lead parties. The French ambassador, Dante Wallace, and his son Cage were also in attendance. She made a mental note to go and speak with Dante at some point during the evening. He may be a horrible human being but conversation with him was always stimulating. Also, out of all the politicians, business owners, and various upper crust people she'd spent her life surrounded by he was the only one who'd ever recognized her as a threat. He was charming and loved to talk about the art in his home in the Lozere, but underneath the charm and impeccable manners was a considering gaze and he made frequent attempts to pull answers to political questions from her. Oh, he was a shark, and he knew she knew more than other people realized. She smiled against her glass before moving towards him as she saw his conversation with Minister Jaha coming to an end. She saw his eyes light up as she approached, maybe the evening wouldn't be a complete loss after all.

"Miss Griffin, it's a pleasure to see you. And I must say you look lovely in this evening."

"The pleasure is mine Ambassador, it's really been too long." She ran a finger along the rich velvet of her deep crimson dress. She wore the dress at her mother's insistence. It was an obvious reminder of her heritage as a descendant of Godric Gryffindor.

"I'm surprised you were able to make it, Sydney never seemed the type to allow a student out to enjoy a good party." He smiled conspiratorially at her.

"The Headmistress was understanding about the invitation from the minister. And how about you, Lord Wallace, how is France this time of year?"

"Oh, lovely as always, I miss the air and fields of flowers. How you English put up with the endless rain I will never know." He chuckled before sipping his drink. "But things have been quite hectic recently, as I'm sure you know."

"Yes, I did read about the loss of your calendula crops last week. Have the negotiations with the Germans to supplement your crops been going well?" She raised an eyebrow while watching Dante's face carefully.

"Now how would you know we're importing from Germany? We have trade relations with Mali that would be far easier to increase."

"Of course, but Mali doesn't have the correct temperatures for the high grade calendula you're potion makers pride themselves on. While it may be more expedient, you wouldn't risk losing your reputation as the finest potion makers by selling a product that could easily be matched. Or am I wrong?"

Dante's face lit up, "You're correct as always, well reasoned. You really should consider politics my dear, going into healing with a mind like yours is a crime."

"There are many ways to use a mind. And you know I'd support expanding England's trade relations with nations other than your own if I did partake in politics. You should be careful what you wish for."

"Oh my dear an opponent who knows what they are doing is always better than a friend who is a fool. And you would be such a pretty opponent, you have no idea how uninteresting negotiations are when the nicest face is the face of your minister. Minister Jaha has many lovely attributes, a charming smile sadly is not one of them."

Clarke laughed softly, "No, I suppose it isn't." She considered her next question carefully, "I heard a lovely rumor about your son and a certain veela the other day, any truth to that?"

Dante's face twitched slightly but it was the only clue he gave that she'd hit on something he'd rather she hadn't. "Cage is still a young man, with a young man's tastes. Just between you and I what he needs is a good wife to steady him. He truly has so much promise, I couldn't be prouder of him. I'm sure you're aware of his award for service to the nation this summer?"

Clarke attempted to keep her expression sweet despite the topic of conversation being Dante's vile son. "Indeed, I never did get the details on what exactly he did to deserve such a prestigious award. Although by the timing and what I know of his duties I would imagine it had to do with the raids on subpar potion makers? Specifically the one's using illegal ingredients." To herself she added 'like veela hair.'

"You know I can't comment on ongoing investigations." Dante smiled at her as he spoke with a pleased tone. It was as good as a confirmation. Clarke made a mental note to indicate that her suspicions of Cage's involvement with the underground market were confirmed and add it to her black books. Before she could probe lightly for some additional information Minister Jaha spoke up inviting everyone to join him in the dining room.

She found herself seated at the head of the table next to her mother. No doubt Abby wanted to present a united front, their complimentary gowns only adding to the effect. After all her mother's position at the table was only guaranteed because of her marriage to Jake Griffin. Without that she'd still be a pureblood of little prestige working at 's. Clarke relaxed her posture as she brought a bite of the first course to her mouth. It was delicious as expected. Dante was happily informing his neighbor about how it was such a treat to have properly prepared Malpegue Oysters.

She made eye contact with Marcus Kane, the head of the Purist party, who was seated across from her. "Marcus it's been awhile how has your mother been fairing?"

His face seemed to fall slightly, "Not well I'm afraid. I don't think I'll be able to take her back home next time she ends up at 's."

Clarke fought the impulse to mention that his mother was healthy as an ox and was just politically uncomfortable for the man. After all her conspiracy theories didn't exactly help his political aspirations. Abby's hand fell on Clarke's thigh squeezing in warning. Hiding a grimace Clarke responded. "I'm terribly sorry to hear that."

The conversation flowed around carefully staying on relatively neutral topics, politics being a dangerous topic at a dinner table with two opposing parties represented, even if they agreed on most things. Clarke hadn't spoken much both as a way to appease her mother, but also because she preferred to listen. By the third course, a dish of poached salmon, she had started to drift. The conversation had turned towards quidditch a while ago and if there was one area of gossip she didn't bother listing in her black note books it was quidditch. She was pulled out of her thoughts on whether the sauce for the salmon was really necessary when Minister Jaha said something that brought her full attention back to the conversation at hand.

"With all the problems with the muggleborns it is almost a mercy that Jake isn't here to see his ideals being proved wrong." His voice was filled with sorrow, his hand reaching out and clasping Abby's comfortingly before pulling it back.

Clarke felt heat rushing through her ears, the words 'fake, fake, fake' repeating themselves as she ground her teeth together desperate not to say something she would regret.

"Truly, he always believed the best in people, even when they weren't interested or capable of achieving it." Abby replied in an equally sorrowful voice.

Minister Jaha leaned back in his chair. "He was the best of us, he would be heartbroken by the state of things now. He tried so hard to champion the half blood and muggleborn cause but the current state of things can't be maintained. They have proven themselves to be a threat that doesn't understand or appreciate our culture." He shook his head dolefully.

Clarke felt the fork in her hand bending slightly from the pressure she was exuding on it. She'd counted twenty seven ways she could kill Jaha with her fork, although fork in the neck was appealing to her. She was pulled from her murderous plots by Kane standing up.

He raised his glass of wine. "May we all be as good of people as the late Lord Griffin."

There were murmurs as the attendees of the dinner all raised their glasses. Clarke drank her elvish wine that should have been light on her tongue complementing the fish, but instead it tasted of ash. The hypocrisy of these pureblood bigots paying condescending homage to her father's beliefs in equal rights for half-bloods and muggle borns sent white hot rage running through her. Swallowing thickly she placed her glass down. Turning to her mother who had politically betrayed the very values for which her husband was assassinated, she lost a bit of her self-control and baited her mother. "You have used our seat in the Wizengamot according to father's wishes haven't you mother?"

Abby smiled indulgently at her daughter completely missing the sarcasm and dig against how Abby was truly using the seat. "Of course," she said. She turned to Minister Jaha "I have also been ever so grateful for your assistance through these difficult times."

"It was my pleasure, Jake was the dearest of friends. Too often, just as with my son Wells, the best of us are taken too soon."

Clarke wished she could comment on the hypocrisy of Jaha acting like he truly had mourned for her father and not used his death to launch his political ambitions or that he had not used his son's murder to steamroll through laws against half-bloods and muggleborns. She wasn't the only one who was offended by the reference to Wells' death though. A gross sobbing sound came from the side of the room next to one of the great vases. A knobby kneed elf with big eyes filled with tears stepped forward.

"You never really cared about master Wells' at all. How could you give his seat at the table away. It's like he was never here at all." The elf seemed to pull in on herself trying to hold herself together. "Wells always sat in this chair," she gestured helplessly to the seat Cage Wallace was sitting in part way down the table. "It's not right, it's not."

Jaha's face filled with fury, coloring darkly as the sound of sobs continued to come from the elf. The guests were clearly uncomfortable at this gross break in formality.

Cage sneered, "Do you always let your elves act this way minister?"

Jaha stood up, "No I most certainly do not." He roughly grabbed his cravat from around his neck ripping it off. Throwing the piece of clothing at the sobbing elf, he spat at the trembling creature "Get out of my house."

The elf just wailed louder and collapsed rocking back and forth. Jaha's hand twitched towards his wand and Clarke realized she would need to intervene. Standing gracefully she touched Jaha's arm gently. "Let me take care of it. You should stay and entertain the guests." She looked up at him through her eyelashes, batting them carefully. "It's a school night and I should be returning there soon anyway, it's no bother."

Jaha seemed to think for a moment before pulling back. "That is very kind of you Clarke, it's been a delight to have you in the house again. We'll have to meet for lunch during the holidays."

She smiled at him, "Of course, I'd be happy to." Turning towards the table she nodded her head gently. "It's been a pleasure as always. I'm so terribly sorry to leave you all so early." Swooping gently she grabbed the hysterical elf and made her way out of the room.

Once out she walked to the fireplace in the study. The elf had recognized her and was clinging to her dress with her bony fingers sobbing into her neck. Using one arm to support her back she made quick work of flooing back to Hogwarts. She was fortunate that the common room was empty. Walking cautiously she left the dorm and made her way towards her and her friends' abandoned classroom. It was easy to avoid any patrols even though her dress rustled as she walked, after all she had assigned them. The elf's sobs had subsided into soft hiccups. Finally reaching her destination she pulled out her wand and cast multiple silencing and privacy charms. With a sigh she detached the elf and set her down on a chair before kneeling next to her.

"Oh Tris." she whispered.

"It's not right mistress, it's not…. and I don't care if that makes me a bad elf." Tris wiped at her large eyes angrily.

"You could never be a bad elf Tris, you're the best elf I've ever met." Clarke spoke softly. "You loved Wells and Thelonious has tried to erase him. It's horrible and you have every right to be upset."

"What am I going to do now missus?" Tris gripped the cravat tightly. Big fat tears still rolling down her wet cheeks.

Clarke reached up and pulled a piece of chocolate out of the elf's ear. "Well we can start with this." She smiled.

"Oh, missus knows not to do muggle magic tricks like that." The elf looked rather affronted.

Laughing Clarke held the chocolate closer to her. "Well you can still eat it."

Frowning the elf reached out and took the chocolate carefully chewing it.

"See, now we can plan what we're going to do." Clarke tilted her head thinking. "Would you want to be my elf Tris? Just mine, not my families, but mine."

Tris' eyes widened, "Yes, oh yes. But why would you want Tris? You already have elves."

Clarke sat down on the floor ignoring how awful it must be for her gown. "Tris you knew Wells and I were planning things right?"

"Of course, the black books you always wrote all the nasty gossip in." Tris nodded her head.

"Did Wells ever tell you what we were planning?"

Tris shook her head sadly. "No, but I know it's important. He always made me promise not to tell anyone anything."

Clarke held Tris's eyes. "We were going to overthrow Thelonious and his party." Clarke hadn't known an elf's eyes could get so big, her ears tilting downwards in shock.

"Thelonious is a bad man Tris, you know that. We wanted to make it so he couldn't hurt anyone else."

"What do you want me to do?" Tris' face filled with determination. "You can't let master Wells' dreams not happen."

"I'm not, but things are going to have to change. If you worked for me I would need you to help organize things. Keep secrets for me. Could you do that? It would mean betraying Thelonious."

"Yes, yes I will help you make master Wells' plans work. And stop mean master."

Clarke gave a relieved smiled, "Alright then." Things were moving again, and Clarke finally had someone on her side that she could trust completely and who understood the stakes. God, she missed Wells having her back, but he hadn't left her completely adrift.


	8. Chapter 8

The stands were roaring as the players zipped around. Bellamy took a moment to run the back of his hand across his forehead to get rid of some of the sweat that was dripping into his eyes. Hufflepuff had been on point today barely letting any of them catch their breaths. He rose up to the central position between the goal hoops waiting for Hufflepuff's next pass. A sharp crack and a bludger that had been heading his way went sailing across the field towards the Hufflepuff seeker. Octavia grinned maliciously before diving into position to intercept the next bludger. Bellamy tightened his grip on his broom, Octavia was a terror as a beater but he still worried about her. Suddenly the crowd in the stands were on their feet shouting and cheering as the two seekers took off into the sky.

Bellamy swore under his breath as he watched them, they were behind in overall goals scored and couldn't afford to lose the snitch. The Hufflepuff seeker was gaining on Harper in their upward trajectory thanks to a smaller build. In a downward race Harper would have had the advantage but straight upwards it didn't look good. Then a bludger came flying out from left field barely missing Harper and clipping the Hufflepuff seeker enough for him to lose control of his broom for a split second. It wasn't much, but it was enough for Harper to grab the snitch.

The gold and crimson part of the stands erupted in frantic cheers. Bellamy took off and collided midair with his sister who was whooping in victory. Red and gold blurs started swamping them and Harper as the team formed a large midair group hug. They descended towards the ground in a mess of limbs where they were quickly surrounded by the stream of housemates coming to congratulate them. Soon the team was lifted onto shoulders and carried off the field to shouts of glee. It had been a long game lasting nearly the entire day, the final scores of 800-870 in their favor.

Raising his fist in victory he started the crowd on a chant of "GRYFFINDOR! GRYFFINDOR! GRYFFINDOR!" Looking up at the stands he caught the bemused and slightly exasperated expression of Clarke who was clapping politely next to some Ravenclaws in the stands, with a book shoved under her arm. She rolled her eyes before giving him a thumbs up. Grinning he turned back to his house and their celebration as they exited the stadium.

Octavia was dragging Atom away from the rest of the crowd. Bellamy narrowed his eyes slightly before letting out a sigh. Turning away he grabbed a first year and lifted him up onto his shoulders. He had a party to get to.

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

Bellamy was pleasantly tipsy. He was reclined on one of the sofa's munching on a meat pie that Roma and Monroe had gotten from the kitchens early on in the celebrations. He was still in his uniform like most of the team as they lazily stretched out enjoying the last of their adrenalin from the game before it faded entirely away. A rambunctious game of exploding snap was going on in the corner. The party had died down around an hour ago. Now it was mostly students studying or messing about quietly. He yawned widely. "Harper can you toss me a chocolate frog?"

"The frogs are mine Blake," she stuck a chocolate covered tongue out at him.

He frowned before jabbing his wand with an "Accio chocolate frog."

Miller grabbed it out of midair, "Thanks Blake, just what I wanted."

"Shouldn't you be with your boyfriend Miller?" Bellamy chucked a quaffle at the frog stealer.

"After our house beat his in quidditch? I'd like to hope I still have a boyfriend in the morning." He opened up the frog package, "I got another Merlin." He let out a disappointed sigh before popping the frog in his mouth.

"Thief, if you didn't want the card you shouldn't have stolen it." Harper huffed.

Miller tossed the card at her, "Please, you can have it."

"Think any of us will end up on chocolate frog cards?" Bellamy asked.

"Naw, only the really famous witches and wizards end up on those. What are we going to do to earn that?" Miller leaned his head back and groaned as his muscles protested.

"I don't know, maybe I'll break into a really awesome tomb and make some fabulous archeological discovery." Bellamy grinned, "What about you Harper, think you'll ever get your own card?"

She looked thoughtful. "Probably not, but it would be cool. I don't even know what I want to do after we graduate though."

"I could always get rich stealing from the purebloods and then on my deathbed, when no one can do anything to me, I return all their belongings with little notes attached that prove how masterful a thief I was. That'd probably get me a card. 'The Greatest Magical Thief!'." Miller chucked the quaffle back at Bellamy. "And there is no way you're going to end up a badass curse breaker finding tombs and shit Blake. You're too boring, you're going to end up writing history books for the next generation to drool on while they sleep in Binns' class."

Bellamy grumbled, "History is important you uncultured swine."

Harper laughed, "Sure, but you could teach that class better than Binns and he actually lived the events. Or at least I think he did…" she paused thoughtfully. "How long has Binns been dead? Wizarding fashion has been static since like forever I can never tell how old the ghosts are supposed to be."

"Actually wizarding fashion didn't stagnate till the International Statute of Secrecy in 1682. When the wizarding world closed itself off from the muggle world, fashion and customs in the magical world changed very little from the older traditions over time. In contrast, the fashion and customs of the muggle world experienced broad sweeping changes. As time went on the antiquated practices of the wizarding world became increasingly apparent as muggleborns were introduced to the magical world. With the new magicals looking out of place, following different customs, and using different linguistics, the difference between a muggle born and a pureblood became starkly apparent. In fact the tiered social structure based on blood didn't really emerge in its current form till the 1800's." Bellamy easily recited the facts.

Miller and Harper stared at him. "Nerd."

"Assholes." He chucked the quaffle at Harper and most certainly did not pout.

He was considering going to bed early when the portrait opened and Atom came bursting in, red faced and panting. He swiveled his head before spotting Bellamy. Bellamy sat up, something was wrong.

"Bellamy! It's Octavia, we have to hurry." Atom gasped out.

The common room fell silent as Bellamy leaped to his feet like a live wire following Atom out of the portrait hole. Harper, Monroe, and Miller were right behind him. Monroe turned around to the common room before leaving giving out an order. "Stay in the common room, don't let anyone leave until we know what's happened." With that she was out chasing down her friends.

Bellamy could feel his heart in his throat.

"What happened Atom, I swear to God if you did anything to her." His face contorted into a snarl as they ran full tilt down the stairs.

Atom ignored the blame being thrown at him. "Octavia and I caught Aden sneaking out of the kitchens. That slime ball, Dax, had forced him to steal some dessert for him. We heard Shumway coming and calling out for a thief. Dax must of tattled on Aden, that sniveling coward. O grabbed the sweets from the kid, shoved Aden and me into a closet and turned to face Shumway as he approached. I think he was drunk. He grabbed Octavia by the arm and dragged her away screaming about how he was going to teach the thieving mutt a lesson she would never forget. I sent Aden to the Hufflepuff common room and came for you." Atom was panting barely getting the words out between heavy breaths.

Bellamy's blood ran cold with fear as his thoughts turned to the torturous detentions Shumway had been dishing out. With a cry of rage Bellamy put on extra speed as they made their way to the defense room. He didn't care what happened he was not leaving his sister alone with the man who outed her blood status to the entire school. As they practically flew down a spiral staircase they nearly toppled over a surprised Sterling. He barely seemed to pause before joining them demanding to know what was happening. While Harper filled him in, Monroe's eyes widened as she realized how badly this could go. They needed Clarke. Veering off slightly she shouted at them, "I'm going to get Clarke, don't do anything stupid till we get there." With that she was off towards the Slytherin common room praying to every deity known to man, that Clarke would be there and that they would get there in time.

Bellamy barely made a note of Monroe's departure. His feet pummeled a loud beat on the stones of the castle as he raced along, his red and gold quidditch robes fluttering behind him. His sister was his responsibility and he would tear the world apart to protect her. Seeing the closed defense door he didn't even pause. He just whipped his wand out. He didn't so much as send out a spell as just throw magic and intent at the door, it exploded into a shower of splinters as he and his friends came flying through.

Shumway was startled by his door exploding and he threw a curse at the intruders striking Atom, it was a sickly orange curse and Atom hit the ground with a whimper. Bellamy and everyone ducked behind desks for cover, several disarming jinxes went flying as they dove. Octavia was sitting at a desk with a blood quill that fell from her hand as she dropped to the floor. Bellamy saw the blood quill, recognized it for what it was, and knew what that vile man had been making his sister do to herself. Turning around he saw Atom, and sweet Merlin, his skin was wrinkling and peeling as he moaned, his back arching in pain as quiet whimpers escaped through his cracked and bleeding lips. Bellamy saw red, twisting around as he stood, he threw a banishing hex at Shumway with a roar and the word "BOMBARDA!" on his lips. He poured all of his anger and magic into it instinctively. The spell crashed through the shield Shumway threw up at the sight of the over powered hex but it wasn't enough. The spell crashed through his shield shattering it into a thousand glowing pieces that dissolved into the air as the banishing hex hit him in the center of his chest. It lifted him clear off his feet throwing him violently against the wall with sickening crack. He did not get back up.

Bellamy felt his chest heaving as he stood there looking at Shumway's body as it lay there awkwardly like a broken doll. There was a smear of blood down the wall from where his head hit it. He thought he was going to be sick. Stomach rolling, he barely managed to lean over before he was emptying his stomach on the ground. Sterling stood up, his face pale as he stared at the room with wide eyes completely mute. Miller and Harper were completely still as well. Octavia got up and let out a whimper biting the back of her hand at the sight of Atom. Bellamy stumbled and fell to his knees next to his friend's side. He didn't know what to do. His friend was wasting away in front of him. He knew this wasn't a simple schoolyard jinx, this was something dark and deadly. His hands hovered uselessly.

He was kneeling there with the taste of vomit on his tongue, numb to the horror around him, and frozen in confusion, when he heard the sounds of steps coming towards the room. He knew he should do something, his friends were depending on him, but what? Looking up at the door he watched as Clarke came skidding into the room with Monroe hot on her heels. Her eyes took in the room and he could see the conclusions she was drawing as her eyes hardened. It was like he was underwater, he didn't even react to Monroe's sharp gasp of horror. He just kept looking at Clarke somehow praying she'd have an answer to their problems. She was always so in control, she had to be able to save Atom, she had to make Shumway get up even though he clearly never would.

She walked to the other side of Atom before kneeling down and gently putting a hand on the boy's chest. Her wand carefully drew the familiar path of a diagnosis charm. Bellamy saw it in her eyes when she looked at him and grimly shook her head gently. He knew the others understood because Octavia let out a sob and he could hear her dropping onto a desk her legs not holding her up any longer. Clarke seemed to gather herself before stroking Atoms hair and speaking quietly to him. "I'm going to take care of you ok? Just breath it's all going to be ok." Bellamy could see the smile for what it was, so very sad as it lay on her face. She hummed a lullaby while positioning her wand so that it was facing his chest. The lullaby was an old magical one, one he recognized from his mother singing it to him, and him singing it to Octavia on nights when there wasn't enough food. He saw the slice of her wand as a cutting curse sliced Atom's throat. She gently eased him through the last shudders of his life. He watched as his friend's body became still. She reached out gently closing his eyes. It seemed to take a minute and an hour at the same time before she stood up.

She walked over to Shumway's body, she leaned over and put her fingers on his neck before standing back up. He watched as her shoulders drooped and she leaned against the wall. When after a moment she turned to face them, he could tell she had a plan and he also somehow knew he wasn't going to like it. This wasn't going to get better. It was going to haunt him for the rest of his life, because his friend was dead, because he was a murderer, because somewhere along the line he let himself become the sort of person who was capable of killing. His knees were cold and sore from dropping onto the stone floor but the ache barely registered over the ocean of pain and shock rolling through him chanting, "Murderer, murderer, murderer." It was like some sick parody of the chants after the quidditch game, and Bellamy Blake was drowning in them.


	9. Chapter 9

Clarke didn't know what she expected when Monroe came running down the dungeon hallways looking like she was prepared to punch her way into the Slytherin common room. There was a part of her that wondered sometimes if her father's death hadn't taught her control, to turn her anger into a tool, to distrust everyone, if she would have ended up like the brave and reckless idiots who threw their entire beings into things without thinking through the consequences. In this moment though Monroe had luck on her side. It was just Clarke, Fox and Thalia making their way to their common room in the hallway when Monroe saw them. Monroe's face told Clarke that something was very wrong. "Clarke! Octavia is in trouble. Bellamy and the others went to go help her but it's Octavia and Bellamy is going to do something stupid. You've got to come quick." Clarke felt her blood freeze in her veins. She handed her bag to Fox making eye contact with her two closest friends in her house.

"Make an excuse for me, don't tell anyone about this till I tell you otherwise." She didn't wait for the acknowledgement of her orders just turned and raised her eyebrows at Monroe. Monroe took her arm and pulled her in the direction of the defense room. "I'll explain on the way but we have to get there as fast as we can." Clarke ran along after Monroe as she explained that Shumway had taken Octavia and Bellamy had gone off in a panic to protect her. Ordinarily Clarke wasn't a fast runner, at any other time Monroe would have been able to easily outstrip her. However Monroe had run across half the castle already and was clearly winded with a stitch in her side so Clarke was able to keep up. The halls were ominously quiet as they came through the hallway the classroom was on. The remains of the door told Clarke before she even entered the room that she would be doing clean up not preventing anything. Whatever had happened had already ended. Skidding into the room she saw the chaos. Sterling, Harper, and Miller stood still as sentinels their faces pale and shocked. Their robes were ruffled and had bits of debris stuck to them; their hair was clearly a mess. Sterling had a trickle of blood running down the side of his face from a cut. Octavia was half collapsed against a desk, a desk with a blood quill on it. Shumway's body was lying unmoving on the ground leaning against the wall. The blood smear on the wall made the reason why relatively clear. Multiple desks were overturned and there were several scorch marks against the walls. The only sound was Atom's raspy, labored breathing. Atom laid a few paces from her clearly suffering from a variation of the wasting curse. Bellamy crouched helplessly next to him looking at her for help. She didn't pause for long quickly moving to Atom's side to confirm her fears about the boy's condition. It was a hopeless case. Nothing she could do would save him. The only thing she could do was ease his passing. She knew that it was occasionally done at St. Mungo's when dealing with curses that could not be lifted but she had never had to do anything of the sort during her apprenticeship with Jackson. There was nothing for it though, it had to be done she would just have to push away her feelings until they could be dealt with later. Speaking a few reassuring words and humming a song that she remembered her mother singing to her when she was a child, she cast a cutting charm that severed one of his carotid arteries without hitting any nerve clusters. After that it did not take long for his pulse to stop and the light to go out from his eyes. Clarke took a moment to collect herself before moving on to Shumway's body.

By the time she had confirmed Shumway's lack of a pulse she had a vague outline of a plan. Oh, it was risky, but she didn't have a choice, not really. She'd asked to join Bellamy and his group of trouble makers, she'd wanted allies and now she had to either help them or leave them for the aurors and dementors they'd surely be sentenced to suffer. And she couldn't do that, couldn't let the fire and hope in all of them be destroyed. So she spoke, her voice clear and free of the waver she felt wanting to break through. Now wasn't the time for feelings, it was the time for action.

"Bellamy get up, you can break down later, right now there are things that need to be done." The boy didn't move, his eyes were not focused properly. She took a step closer, "Bellamy if you don't get up and help me deal with this I won't be able to protect your sister." That got a reaction his eyes seemed to clear. Good.

She quickly cast several stasis and preservation charms, and two powerful notice me not charms on Shumway and Atom. "Octavia, Sterling get Shumway's body to the Shrieking Shack. I'm sure you know how but in case you don't, touching the most prominent knot on the whomping willow with a stick will disable its' defenses. Take the tunnel to the end." She aimed her wand at a piece of broken desk casting a transfiguration spell turning it into a metal box the size of her hand that was lined with fabric. With a sharp flick of her wand she severed one of Shumway's fingers from his hand.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" Bellamy cried out moving for the first time since she'd arrived.

"Saving your asses so you better do exactly what I tell you to." Grabbing the finger she set it in the box she'd made and closed the lid sticking it in her pocket. "Bellamy you take Miller and get Atom's body to the Forbidden Forest, bury him there. We can move his resting place later but right now it's imperative that nobody can find him. After you bury him I need you to make it look like he ran away, pack his things get rid of his trunk." She looked at the group whose eyes were on her obviously waking up from their frozen states. "We need to move, now. Monroe go to the Ravenclaw tower, ask for Raven Reyes. Tell her I sent you and get a two way radio from her. If she doesn't believe you tell her that I love Houdini. If she insists on following you let her, she can be trusted. After all of you have done what I've told you to meet me in the old charms classroom on the fifth floor."

"What are you going to be doing while we get rid of the bodies princess?" Bellamy snarled.

Irritation flooded her, "Destroying the evidence. Speaking of which once you get to the classroom you need to cast at least twenty spells that have nothing to do with combat or body moving so your wands can't be used as evidence against you."

She waited as no one moved, "Well get on with it, we have to move, NOW!"

That seemed to shock them into action. Monroe took off out the door while Sterling stumbled towards Octavia and they got Shumway's body and started moving him out of the door. Bellamy seemed to screw his face up, trying to keep from having a panic attack, if she recognized the signs correctly, before gently lifting Atom to his chest and walking out with Miller behind him. Breathing deeply Clarke grabbed the blood quill stuffing it into her pocket with the box with Shumway's finger and walked to the door of the classroom. Once she was sure that everyone was far enough away not to hear she called out for Tris. Tris appeared with a pop. She was wearing a crimson pillowcase made of soft fabric with the crest of the Griffin family embroidered on the chest. "What can I be doing for you Mistress?"

"I need you to clean and repair this room as best as you can. A fight took place here and I need it to look like nothing ever happened. Can you do that Tris?" Clarke asked. It was always good to have allies that no one knew about and she was glad to have Tris to back her up.

The elf looked offended that Clarke would even ask, "Of course, Mistress. Won't be any trouble." Clarke nodded her thanks and took the transfigured box with Shumway's finger out of her pocket. It would need to seem like it was taken off a living person. Luckily she knew just the spell. During her medical training she had come across a rather dark spell that kept severed flesh alive so that it could be reattached magically later. Its' uses to prolong torture and the variation that made it so you could feel the pain of the severed flesh made it too dark for it to be accepted for its' medical uses. It would be just the spell to make it look like the finger had come from a living person though. However she had only read about the spell and never cast it. This would be a tricky bit of magic. Clarke breathed out the words of the spell several times to herself trying to remember what the book had said about how to pronounce them. She also practiced the wand movements, making sure that every flourish was just right. Finally, once she felt ready she pointed her wand at the finger and cast the spell. The finger gave off a brief well of blood before she released the curse. Clarke quickly performed a diagnostic spell and determined that Shumway's finger was indistinguishable from a finger taken off a live person. Letting out a sigh of relief Clarke relaxed for a moment. That spell took quite a lot out of her. The energy needed to provide a facsimile of life to dead flesh was greater than she thought it would be. It was not the same as transfiguration. A proficient magic user could tell the difference between the false life given to a transfigured object and a truly living thing. This spell was different. It could fool even diagnostic spells because the life it gave was not fake.

Looking around the room once more Clarke noticed that Tris had finished cleaning the room and left. It was almost time for her to do the same. Walking to Shumway's desk she started shrinking every piece of paper on it, before repeating the process with the contents of each drawer. Once she was sure she had everything she gave one last lingering look at the classroom that had born witness to such a disaster and left for the charms classroom. She was the first to arrive at the room and gratefully collapsed in a dusty old chair. As she waited for the others to arrive she started casting the necessary twenty spells to clear her wand. Monroe arrived just as Clarke finished this task. She quickly buckled her knees and collapsed in another chair while clutching her side that was clearly cramping after running several times back and forth across the castle and dealing with its' many staircases. She was taking in great gulping breaths and looked like she was about ready to keel over. Raven entered after Monroe her eyes examining the room warily. She quickly made her way to Clarke.

"Princess are you alright? What's going on?" She was unusually serious, taking in Clarke's exhausted state and the clear urgency of whatever was going on.

"I'm fine, just used a spell that took more out of me than I was expecting." She rubbed her forehead as if trying to rub away her exhaustion. "As for what's going on, I don't know all the details but the end result is Shumway and Atom are dead."

"Fucking hell, how did that happen and how are you involved?" Raven gripped Clarke's shoulder tightly her eyes wide.

"He was making Octavia use a blood quill, I'm not sure what happened but there is no way it was one of the Gryffs who cast the wasting curse at Atom. It's too dark and old for them to ever have access to that type of magic, even in the restricted section. I assume they tried to protect each other after that and well, dark magic won't save a man from a broken neck." Clarke sighed, it was an absolute disaster.

Raven turned to Monroe, "What the hell did you get my friend into?"

Monroe didn't move to look at her still focusing on breathing. "I" breath, "just," breath, "got," breath, "Griffin," breath.

"So you don't know anything useful do you?" She growled.

Monroe shook her head. Raven opened her mouth to cut into her before Clarke interrupted her. "Calm down Raven, I told them I'd help them. Demanded it really."

Raven was prevented from asking anymore questions by the entrance of a pale and serious Bellamy and Miller. Both boys sat down near Monroe. Miller was slightly hunched staring into space while Bellamy rested his head in his hands taking shuttering breaths.

"Is it done?" Clarke looked at them sharply.

Bellamy didn't look up, "It's done."

They didn't have to wait long after that for Octavia, with tear tracks on her face, and Sterling to get there. Octavia sat down beside her brother leaning into his body while Sterling remained standing, obviously in some form of shock.

Clarke stood up pushing Raven into her seat gently. "Right, Sterling is Shumway in the Shrieking shack?"

He nodded, his mouth a thin line as his jaw set.

"Ok, Octavia you need to tell me exactly what Shumway made you write. Every word, exactly." Her face was serious and her voice sharp.

Octavia didn't look up from where she was leaning against Bellamy, her forehead resting on his shoulder. "It doesn't matter now."

Clarke barely kept from shouting. "It matters! Blood quills are used for binding magical contracts, anything he forced you to write could have massive consequences including death depending on what you wrote. I can't help if I don't know what I'm working with. So tell me, now!" Her arms were rigid at her sides.

Octavia looked up startled and Bellamy took his head out of his hands his eyes filled with horror. "What?" He croaked.

"He just made me write that my mother was a whore." She spat. "He didn't make me sign anything." Her eyes were wide and frightened.

Clarke breathed out a quick sigh of relief and quickly reassured them, "Cruel words aren't binding, just painful." She could see Bellamy didn't agree with her though as he pulled Octavia into a hug burying his nose in her hair. It was obvious he was taking this hard. Sadly, she didn't have time to deal with his guilt, like her feelings it could be dealt with later. His voice interrupted her thoughts. "What are we going to do?" He looked at her in fear.

Drawing herself up she readied herself for the next stage of the only plan that had a hope in hell of working. "What we do is simple. You all are going to stay here. I'm going to take one of the radios with me and leave the other with you. I'm going to Sydney and I'm going to get you out of this." She swallowed. "I'm going to go lie my ass off for you all so let's all pray to whatever deity you believe in that she buys it because if she doesn't, even I can't save you from the dementors. If it doesn't go well, I need you all to get out of here and run. The muggle world is safest if you don't want to get caught." She reached her hand out to Raven for the radio silently.

Raven put it in her hand, "This is crazy Clarke, be careful ok?"

Clarke shook her head, "We're past careful I'm afraid." Her lips gave the barest twitch of amusement as she walked out the door and started heading towards the headmistress' office. Before she left the classroom entirely she threw a parting comment over her shoulder, "and for goodness sake have your wands cleared before I get back." The halls were almost completely empty. When passing students she forced herself to smile and act like nothing was wrong. She was almost to the office when she felt a hand on her arm pull her back. Anger bubbled up inside of her when she saw Finn looking at her with his most charming smile aimed at her.

"Hey princess, what are you doing out so late." His face fell as he looked at her carefully, "Are you doing ok princess?"

Clarke closed her eyes and grit her teeth, she didn't have time for this. Opening her eyes she stared into his eyes daring him to challenge her. "Finn, I don't have time for you right now. Turn around and go back to doing whatever it is you do when you're not following me. I don't care. But I swear if you so much as say another word I'll stick you in detention for the rest of the month." Ripping her arm out of his grasp she pushed on ahead leaving the flabbergasted boy behind her.

At the foot of the gargoyle guarding the way up to the headmistress's office she paused and started to count down from twenty while regulating her breathing. She had to be perfect, she couldn't let Sydney see a single crack. When she finally felt her heart rate return to normal and was sure she was as centered as she was going to get she said the password, 'Exodus'. The gargoyle moved aside letting her up the stairs, she didn't bother with knocking just switching the radio on and walking in.

The office was organized neatly, bookshelves lining the walls along with paintings of the past heads of the school that murmured about her rude behavior just bursting in like that unannounced. Sydney was at her desk a pair of reading glasses on her nose as she worked on paperwork.

"I don't remember sending for you Griffin." She looked up clearly unimpressed.

Clarke walked casually to the front of the woman's desk and sat gracefully on the chair in front of it. Leaning back in her seat she clasped her hands on her knees, her legs crossed. "You didn't, but I'm afraid I rather need to speak with you."

Sydney narrowed her eyes. "What could possibly demand my attention this late at night that would excuse your behavior?"

Clarke reached into her robes pulling out the metal box. Leaning forward she set it on Sydney's desk with a sharp clack. Leaning back she raised an eyebrow challenging the headmistress to open it.

Sydney opened the box, a startled gasp left her mouth. Her gaze snapped back to Clarke.

Clarke examined her nails. "I'm afraid professor Shumway won't be making the morning staff meeting headmistress."

"You would have me believe you cut off one of my staff members fingers?" Sydney's voice was tight.

And the trap was set. Clarke looked up from her nails examining Sydney. "Not just that, you'd be surprised how very talkative a man can be when his life is in peril. Did you know a man who fears death will tell a person almost anything? For instance a man who thinks he could die might be inclined to tell stories about plans to rebel against the government."

Sydney's face went pale.

"He might even talk about how Jaha with my father's help overthrew your reign as minister of magic and relegated you to a school, effectively taking away your political power. He could then regale his captors with a tale of how you wanted that power more than anything and had plans to kill the top political members of the government including the Minister of Magic himself." Clarke straightened her cloak before looking up at Sydney's horrified face. "A man in the kind of pain required to think he was dying might even have told me all about certain investments with the Prophet designed to help smooth your transition into power after the coup. We wouldn't want those stories from a prominent well known pureblood like Shumway to be heard by the wrong ears now would we?"

"You…" Inarticulate rage and horror choked the headmistress for a moment. "How could you even?"

Clarke smiled, good she bought it. "Dinner parties are always so very boring, except for the gossip. The gossip is the best part you know. I'm just a young student, who would ever be careful about what they say around me? It's a pity really that your political aspirations are only self-aggrandizing and you would follow in Jaha's footsteps politically. If you had been interesting I might have even supported you, after all I have my own ambitions for the government. Which is why I'm not going to turn you over to the minister."

"What are you going to do then?" Sydney spat out.

"You're going to swear an unbreakable vow to me. Because we both know what would happen if you don't, I'll go to my godfather the Minister of Magic and you'll be tried for treason. We both know the kiss at the other end of that sentence isn't one you want. By making the vow you'll have lost your political game, but well you'll still be alive, your soul will be intact, and you'll even have the various comforts and prestige your position here at Hogwarts provides you." Clarke watched the emotion and sheer rage in Sydney's eyes as she fumed desperately looking for a way out.

"What's to stop me from killing you here and now and preventing you from doing just that?" Her fingers tightened around her wand.

"Don't be stupid, you would have already done so if you thought it was an option. But you know me Sydney. Or at least, you know enough about me to know I wouldn't have come without guarantees. My memories of Shumway's distasteful performance are already copied and ready to be delivered to the necessary people and I've entrusted them to two of my elves, nothing as plebian as an owl that could be intercepted of course."

"Of course," Sydney choked out.

"So what will it be Headmistress, the vow or a dementor's kiss?" Clarke smiled at her, she already knew what Sydney would do. After all as a former minister she had seen what the victims of a kiss suffered.

The woman seemed to wrestle with herself before standing, her chair skidding out from behind her. "Fine. Who is to be the binder of this?"

Clarke stood as well, "Tris!" The elf popped into existence beside her.

"You called Mistress, what can I be doing for you?" Tris stood tall. She was obviously ready to do whatever Clarke asked even though she was uncomfortable in the presence of a past tormentor. Sydney had never been kind to the elves on the rare occasion that she had to visit the Jaha estate.

Clarke smiled genuinely at the elf for the first time since the whole mess had started. Holding out her wand to the elf she spoke, "Headmistress Sydney will be making an unbreakable vow to me and I need you to be the bonder."

"I'd be happy to Mistress," Tris gently took the wand watching cautiously as Clarke stepped forward clasping hands with Sydney. Tris set the end of the wand against their clasped hands.

Clarke breathed in, the first sign of nerves she'd given during the entire situation. "Will you, Sydney, never act against me or those I tell you are aligned to me in word, deed or any other method you can conceive of?"

Sydney hissed, "I will." The first strand of flame came from the wand binding their hands together.

"And will you swear to follow any order I may give you from this moment forwards?"

"I will," the sheer hatred in Sydney's voice should have been able to burn.

"And will you give aid to those who I tell you are mine never acting or speaking against those you even suspect are mine from this moment forward?"

"I will."

The last tongue of flame twisted round their hands binding them in a chain of red settling into their skin. Sydney jerked her hand out of Clarke's grasp as soon as the magic set. "I hope you're happy now. I never thought you had it in you to force someone to become your slave." She sneered.

Clarke took her wand back from Tris, dismissing her with a nod and a smile. "There was only one man who knew what I am capable of and he died last summer." She looked up at the woman. "Oh and Sydney, do take care of the excuses needed for Shumway's absence, he won't be coming back. I'm afraid Atom also ran away this evening, the bullying must have been getting to him. There is no need to involve the aurors, after all it's not the first time a muggleborn has broken under the stress." With that Clarke walked out of Sydney's office, turned off the radio, and made her way into the hallway outside. Seeing that the coast was clear she collapsed against a cold wall laughing before speaking into the empty hall, "You'd be proud Wells all our work gathering information has finally started to pay off."


	10. Chapter 10

Bellamy sat in a rickety old chair waiting for the aurors to come and drag him away when Clarke inevitably failed to help them get away with murder. He found that all he could do was hold onto his sister's hand. However as time seemed to drag on still no aurors came. Instead the radio Raven was gripping let them hear what was probably the most terrifying thing he'd ever heard. A sharp clack had everyone sitting up straight as they listened to the noises coming out of the radio. When Bellamy realized that Clarke had given Sydney Shumway's finger he was startled. What could she be thinking? Did she want to get them all caught and killed? The ensuing conversation, or more one sided blackmail extravaganza, was the single most eye opening experience he'd ever had. Political coups, slavery, Clarke had plans for the government, murder concealed by turning it into torture and kidnapping. Finally, their front row seats were taken away when the radio was switched off after the grinding sound of the gargoyle moving again. Monroe expressed all their feelings for them at the sound of the radio being turned off. "Holy shit."

It was silent for a bit before Monroe spoke up, "What do we do now?"

Sterling made a helpless arm motion he aborted half way through. Miller hadn't moved other than to breath since Clarke left. Bellamy exploded out of his chair and started pacing around the room. Raven glaring at Bellamy was the one who responded.

"What you do is stay in your fucking seat till Clarke gets back and makes sure you don't screw up everything she just did to cover for you." She snarled.

"We're not the ones who just blackmailed the headmistress," Octavia spat.

"No you're just the ones who got two people killed tonight."

"Fuck you, Shumway was torturing O." Bellamy glowered. "He's been making us bleed in detentions since the school year started."

"Maybe if you didn't provoke him with all your juvenile pranks he wouldn't have gone off the deep end. You just terrorize everyone for fun not expecting any consequences." Raven crossed her arms daring him to challenge her.

Bellamy's anger already close to the surface burst out of him at the implication that his hard work was merely juvenile. "Maybe Shumway should have thought about the consequences before he told the whole school O's father was a muggle!"

"Bellamy Blake, you want everyone to think you're defending them from the mean purebloods, but all you do is try and get petty revenge because your feelings got hurt."

"Do you have any idea what they do to people here who are the child of a squib and a muggle!"

"Please tell me, the muggleborn with the highest grades in the school, about how being from lesser blood means you get treated unfairly."

Bellamy choked back a reply at that, what could he say to that after all? He was a halfblood upset because his sister didn't have even the small amount of protection he had against persecution. Raven was a muggleborn the lowest of the low in the school hierarchy. He hadn't done much to help anyone till Octavia had started to be targeted. Swallowing down his frustration he tightened his fists, the skin going white from the force of it. Octavia pulled away from him.

"We've been trying to help, at least we're doing something!"

Raven shifted her attention to Octavia easily. "Like what, making things worse for everyone? Do you think every pureblood is evil, or that all the halfbloods with pureblood friends are what? Sell outs? Do you think your pranks only affect the prejudiced assholes? What about when the pieces of shit you are targeting decide to get revenge and take it out on the closest muggleborn huh? Monty got scales because Articus was sore about having his hair turned red." She was fuming at the end of her rant.

"Well what have you been doing about it? You just glide by using Griffin to help you along and protect you. What did she adopt you cause she wanted help studying?" Octavia sneered.

"ENOUGH!" Clarke strode in before the fight could get any more out of hand. "Just, stop it. I get it you have excess adrenaline and are tired and hurt and have just gone through something awful but tearing into each other isn't going to fix anything." She collapsed back into her chair.

Bellamy watched her carefully, "What do you think we should be doing now princess, huh? Lay low and do nothing?"

"Yes." She sighed deeply, Bellamy felt the exhaustion coming off her and felt his anger cooling. "You and your trouble making friends need to decide what you want to do now."

He frowned, "What do you mean?"

"Well, you can keep doing what you're doing, or you can quit before anyone else gets hurt, or you can actually do something effective."

Harper spoke up from her corner. "You mean help you do whatever it is you're trying to do."

Clarke nodded. "I'm trying to do something that will actually help. Even if you manage to change your methods so that you actually start fixing the problems here at the school it's never going to change what's happening out there." She waved her hand towards the walls.

"So like what, you want us to be your political stooges? No thanks." Bellamy crossed his arms frowning.

"No I don't want you to be my political stooges, none of you would be any use politically anyways. What I want you to do is educate people on what's going on. Rip off the blindfolds people use to keep themselves comfortable. Look at yourselves, in this room we have almost every blood type represented and we all want things to change. Use that, make the people at the top squirm, chip away at every piece of support they have." Her cheeks flushed slightly at her impassioned response.

Bellamy felt it then, a tiny piece of hope. "You think just explaining things to people would change the country, change everything?"

She shook her head. "No, but it might weaken the fucking monsters at the top of the political food chain enough for me to be able to get them out of power."

Miller spoke up for the first time since they'd arrived at the room. "So you want to do what Sydney was planning, you want a coup?"

Clarke straightened up and Bellamy felt his exhaustion fading, this was important. "Yes and no. I don't want to murder everyone and take control in the chaos. I want to legitimately wrestle power out of the hands of the traditionalist party, I want to destroy their image and hold them accountable for their crimes. I want to reform our legal structure and I want to do it legitimately. I want the legal and social equality of all blood types and intelligent creatures."

Octavia spoke up while Bellamy's head was reeling. "Isn't your mom one of those Traditionalist party members? You want to destroy your mom?"

Something in Clarke snapped in that moment, Bellamy could see it in how all her muscles went tight suddenly like a rubber band being pulled to its breaking point. "She's not my mother! She hasn't been since she had my father assassinated because of his political beliefs!" She hissed.

Silence descended on the room. Raven surprisingly broke it first. "What do you mean your mom had your father assassinated? It was a random werewolf attack."

The tension seemed to disappear from Clarke's body as she slumped back into the chair. "He was killed a month before the Traditionalist party took power from the Purists and ousted Sydney's regime. He was pushing the party in a far more liberal direction than they were comfortable with. But thanks to how old our family is politically and the connections he had it was working. Then suddenly he gets killed and Jaha takes over leadership of the party with my mother's endorsement. Wells was the one who figured out who did it though." She let out a wet chuckle.

"That's when you two stopped talking for a couple of months wasn't it?" Raven had a look of understanding crossing her face.

"Yeah, I didn't believe him at first but I used my apprenticeship to get ahold of my mother's time card from more to prove him wrong than anything. I found out she was working in the magical creature division the month before it happened even though her specialty is magical trauma. That was suspicious enough to keep me searching. From there I went through old bank records, the sizable withdrawal of funds from the family vault two days before his death was telling. The fact that she used her connections in the party to help Jaha reverse everything my father ever stood for was damning. People have been dying for equality for years. My father was just one in a long string of deaths. Binns would never teach about the protests in the sixties where the ministry loosed dementors on the peacefully protesting squibs and muggleborns. Or the resulting rebel movement led by the Trikru family, it's why Aden and what's left of his family are considered blood traitors. That movement is also why England has the highest concentration of werewolves in the magical world. The government used the werewolves to take out the Trikru rebellion and also to take away standing from key members of the party. Now the Trikru's political wing, the Reformist party, has only a few hereditary seats in the Wizengamot. So you see we've been at war off and on for three generations now and I intend to finish this." She kept eye contact with him through her speech.

Bellamy breathed out, it was a lot to take in. "You think we're capable of doing what no one has managed to do before. Why?"

"Because I know that the way to do it is to make sure no one knows I'm doing it."

"Why risk telling us then?"

"I can't do it on my own, I need allies and you may not understand exactly what you've stepped into, but you care and you can motivate people. I need you and people like you or else I'll be playing a very long game trying to take over the traditionalist party from inside like my father before me. It could take decades. If you help we can do it in so much faster."

Bellamy nodded slowly. He remembered an eleven-year-old him sitting on an old stool with the sorting hat over his ears wishing desperately to be in Slytherin so he could become a dark lord and take care of anyone who had ever or would ever mistreat his family. He reached his hand out, "I'm in."

Clarke smiled genuinely and took his hand in hers shaking it.

"Oh hell I'm in too," Raven piped up as they released hands. "Although princess you and me are going to have words about not telling your besties that you have been plotting world domination since you were an icky firsty."

Clarke laughed, "Only England, and since I was a fifth year thank you very much."

"And those black notebooks you've been filling since first year with Wells are what exactly?" She raised an eyebrow at Clarke expectantly.

"Insurance and information," Clarke mumbled her face heating up.

"Always knew you two were up to no good." Raven replied with a sly grin.

Octavia stood up, "Full on rebellion against the assholes in charge, I'm in too."

The others stood up as well murmuring agreement. Monroe grinned, "damn right I'm in."

Clarke stood up, "Well in that case we should meet again, tomorrow night, here. Know that once we start there are no take backs." She held their gazes and Bellamy tipped his chin up, he wasn't standing down. He could do something, he could make Atom's death mean something. "For now it's late and we should go to bed. Don't say or write anything that could compromise us."

After a round of nods that acknowledged their agreement Clarke turned and left the room with Raven close at her heels clearly about to interrogate her for not mentioning her plans earlier.

"Right, let's go." Bellamy led his group who were quiet and thoughtful out of the room and to the central staircase for the floor. Sterling hugged Harper before heading down to the Hufflepuff common room while the Gryffindors made their way up to the tower. Getting to the common room Bellamy made his escape to his room as quickly as possible. Heading straight to the shower he set it on its hottest setting trying to burn the sensation of Atom's chest pressed against his from his memory. Half an hour later a waterlogged and rubbed raw Bellamy emerged. Ignoring his bed, he sat at one of the almost never used desks in the seventh year boy's dorm. Pulling out a piece of parchment and a quill he started to write. He may not be able to send this letter for a long time but it still needed to be written.

Dear Mr and Mrs Jones,

I'm writing to tell you about your son Atom…..

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

The next day Bellamy skipped dinner after a long day of exhausting classes. His appetite was non-existent and he didn't feel up to listening to the gossip about the missing Shumway and Atom. Instead he went out to the quidditch pitch, the place where he normally felt the most at home, and sat on one of the higher seats of the quidditch stadium. The weather was turning foul as winter approached. Normally he would have sought refuge and time to think in the air, but the idea of touching his quidditch gear made him feel sick. Looking over the pitch he snorted when he saw Clarke walking out onto the field. She seemed to catch sight of him and made her way up the stands before sitting next to him.

"What do you want princess?" He didn't look at her instead focusing on the skyline.

She made a humming noise under her breath. "Would you believe me if I said I was checking to make sure you were ok?"

He laughed softly, it was hollow and devoid of mirth.

"That's what I thought. It's true though."

"Sure you're not just making sure I don't spill the beans about the rebellion your starting tonight?"

He heard her shifting, "Not really, even if you were going to bow out you wouldn't take me with you. You're a surprisingly decent human being under the asshole persona."

"If I'm such a decent person why do I feel like a monster?" He said it more as a statement then a question.

"Exactly because you are a decent human being."

He looked at her questioningly.

"No really, you got mixed up in something you weren't prepared for and it backfired on you. But you didn't cast a dark curse with no cure. You cast a simple schoolyard spell. Putting too much power in a spell when emotions are heightened is common. Shumway did the same you know, the wasting curse he used, it's always deadly but it shouldn't have progressed that fast. He had to have really meant it, really wanted it. That's the thing about most dark magic, you have to desire the result right down to your bones." She sighed tilting her head back looking up at the sky that was lighting up with color as the sun set. "You didn't desire to kill him, you didn't even try. Yet here you are feeling guilt for it. That's what sets you apart, if Shumway was in your shoes he wouldn't have felt that guilt, it's what makes you decent, it's what will help you make better decisions next time."

He felt a slight weight shift. It wasn't much, but it was something. He leaned back following her gaze at the wisps of clouds overhead. "So you think I'm going to be making decisions in the future. Here I thought you were going to try and take complete control of us all."

She laughed lightly the sound surprising him slightly. "Please, we both know that while I am the mastermind here you are the leader. I could never have gotten nearly a quarter of the school to organize in open rebellion. A juvenile and directionless rebellion, but impressive all the same."

"I thought you were complimenting me there but you had to ruin it didn't you. And what about the shunning thing you've got your house doing to Ontari? That seems like it would take an awful lot of leadership to me." Bellamy deflected trying to push the focus off of him

"She broke a principle rule of Slytherin house, don't get caught. I gained control of my house in sixth year, I hadn't really interacted with the inner house politics till fifth year. I was too busy researching werewolves and planning out with Wells how we were going to change the world. When I did take control I made one rule 'no permanent harm'." Clarke allowed him his deflection hoping that this conversation would increase his understanding of how politics worked.

"Yeah how does that control of your house thing work?" He was genuinely curious, everyone knew Slytherin worked on its own logic but he'd never really considered what that logic might be before.

"It's very in line with pureblood society really. What matters is blood, wealth, connection, and skill. By virtue of who I am I already had the first two in spades." She shook her head amusedly. "I never really had friends outside of Wells, Monty and Jasper till fifth year. I got here and my father had just died, I was sorted into the wrong house, and then well I was so eager to learn everything about what had happened to my father I threw myself into my studies. I had connections outside of the school courtesy of my family but not in it. As to skill well my obsession with studying and lack of a social life gave me that. It only took a year to gain the necessary connections within the house."

"So, you've got connections, how does that mean you can banish Ontari?" He furrowed his brow.

"Because anyone who interacts with her risks me ousting them. If it was just my ire it wouldn't do more than keep the students particularly aligned with me in check. However, those with political ambitions will uphold the banishment since they benefit from the alliances they are building with me and each other. The neutral members of the house will uphold the banishment because they won't risk making waves. Those opposed won't risk going against me over someone like Ontari. If she'd been Dax it would have taken effort. And it's not like her banishment is permanent, once she's earned a hundred points she'll be allowed back in. This might seem silly to you but this is just how Slytherin house works." She looked over at him for the first time.

"Yeah, you guys are all nutters." They fell into a comfortable silence the sounds of the empty grounds surrounding them. He spoke after a while. "Raven pointed out what a hypocrite I am because I never did anything to stop the bullying of the other half-bloods or muggleborn students till Octavia got outed. Is that really what a decent person would do? We were always so careful to make sure no one knew her father was a muggle. It's bad enough being the result of a pureblood having an affair with a squib like me, but a muggle and a squib?" He clenched at the bench to steady himself from the anger welling in him over the injustice of it all. "Then Shumway goes and mocks her for her parentage in front of the whole class. I don't even know how he knew."

"Shumway courted your mother briefly but she rejected him. I'd imagine it was a sort of petty revenge against her for that. As to how he knew, well if he'd held a torch and checked in on her enough it probably only took an educated guess." Clarke watched him carefully, he was a bit too busy being flabbergasted to notice though.

"How the bloody hell do you know that?!" He gaped like a fish.

"Wells and I collected every whisper of gossip we heard for seven years, and really there is nothing that stays around the gossip circuit like a romantic entanglement that's not 'proper'." She raised her fingers making a quotation motion at the word 'proper'.

"You….." His voice trailed off, he didn't even know what to say to that so he just stared at her wide eyed.

"You're not a hypocrite you know, or at least not a bad one." She brought the conversation back to its earlier point. Bellamy didn't make a reply his head was still spinning with the new information Clarke had told him. "Sure, Octavia was your inciting moment but you've helped everyone you could since then. You haven't just protected Octavia."

"That makes it better?" He finally found his voice.

"I would like to think so. We've all done things we regret Blake. I ignored my best friend when he told me he suspected that my own mother was behind the assassination of my father with the aid, direction, and approval of his father, my godfather. I regret that to this day. Hell, I just blackmailed the headmistress of Hogwarts. We all do things that aren't necessarily honorable. Atom isn't the last innocent that's going to die if we do this, no matter how hard we try to make this rebellion as bloodless as possible."

"So, what we just accept people are going to die?!" Bellamy spat.

"No, we do everything we can to keep as many people alive and protected as we can. But at the end of the day we can't let ourselves stop moving forward when our hands are covered in blood again." She looked at him, gaze steady and determined.

"How can we ever forgive ourselves, let alone how will others forgive us?" His voice cracked slightly at the questions.

"I don't have the answer to everything, just the answer to who every politician is sleeping with." She grinned at him. "But if you need forgiveness I'll give that to you, you're forgiven."

"Why?"

"Because I need you; because the idealistic children who are going to join in open treason against their government tonight need you; because, as crazy as it sounds, this nation needs you and this bunch of idiotic, idealistic, children to drag it into the modern era. I can't do this without you."

His lips quirked and he nodded at her. "So do we have a meeting to go run or what princess?"

"Would you all stop calling me that?" She said with exasperation while standing and stretching out her back.

"Never gonna happen princess," He grinned dodging a light slap and heading in towards the start of something new, and hopefully something good.


	11. Chapter 11

When Clarke and Bellamy arrived in the charms room they were not the first ones there. Sterling was nervously twitching next to Monroe who was sitting awkwardly in one of the less dusty chairs. Clarke looked around the room, it looked like someone had cleaned. Before she could wonder who had and if it meant the room was compromised she noticed Sterling twiddling his wand. She made a note in her head that apparently he was a nervous cleaner. It didn't take long till all of the relevant people arrived. Bellamy, Octavia, Sterling, Monroe and Harper were nervous and clearly in emotional turmoil over the events of the day before. Raven had insisted on her presence and had recruited Jasper and Monty to the meeting. The boys had not been pleased to find out she'd left them out of her 'world domination' plans. Seeing as she and Bellamy were almost the last to arrive Clarke went straight to the front of the room and sat down on a desk considering how to start. Bellamy solved that problem for her.

"So what's this plan for world domination?" He gave a lopsided grin.

Clarke huffed, "Not world domination, just regional." Everyone in the room was focused on her and she silently thanked Bellamy for getting the quaffle flying. "Look our society has systemic flaws and is rife with corruption. Changing things from the inside is no longer possible, any honest effort would lead to being stonewalled, or taken care of." Clarke's hands fisted slightly at the mention of people being 'taken care of'.

"The entire upper echelon of our government needs to be overturned. And to do so we need to create the greatest diversion ever seen."

Clarke smiled at them, "If this is going to work, we're going to need two distinct branches. The first one, the one I need you for, is the riskiest. Your job would be to undermine the social acceptance of the status quo by engaging in well targeted pranks that highlight the injustices of the current system. This would undercut the political approval the current parties enjoy. You will need to be visible and not let people ignore the problems in our country. I trust Bellamy and you all are capable of being appropriately obnoxious." She smiled throwing a look at Bellamy while the others chuckled.

"The second branch of our efforts would be directly political. As the only child in my family, I'm entitled to a hereditary seat in the Wizengamot. At the moment, my mother is using it but I intend to take it back. With a seat in the Wizengamot, I can form a new political party. I want to found and lead a party that on the surface promotes a crackdown on corruption, promotes education reform, and some trade reform. It would generally be a slightly less objectionable party compared to the current parties in power. The goal will be to gain control of a majority of the Wizengamot and then the lead member of the party becomes Minister of Magic. When we have the majority in the Wizengamot we can put through laws that would reform our country while repealing some of the ridiculous laws that have been put in place by a corrupt system. It's going to take a lot of work, a lot of luck and our complete dedication but I believe we can do it." As she fell silent she watched and listened as murmuring broke out.

She was surprised when Bellamy spoke up first over the murmuring. He was looking at her with consideration after hearing her plan for the first time. "Well you're all sorts of a special kind of crazy, but it might just work. That said other than undermining political support what would we be doing?"

"Making enough noise that no one pays attention to what I'm doing in the Wizengamot. It's like muggle magic. I need you to be the magicians who keeps the spotlight focused on them while I organize the actual trick."

A surprised Harper spoke up from the side. "You know about muggle magic?"

Clarke tilted her head in confusion, "Of course, the entire process is fascinating, using others perceptions against them through the art of misdirection and sleight of hand making your audience deceive themselves, it is truly brilliant." She could feel her excitement and love of the topic shining through. Although the surprised looking faces confused her.

Octavia grinned, a strangely mischievous look on her face. "Who are your top five favorite muggle magicians?"

It was an easy enough question if odd, "Houdini, Jean Eugene, Jasper Maskelyne, Richard Pitchford, and Howard Thurston."

"Oh my god, you are as big of a nerd as Bell," Octavia lost it at that, laughing. The Gryffindors joined in with Octavia, they'd been forced to hear about history ad nauseum by Bellamy for years now. Even Raven's smile was twitching with suppressed mirth.

Clarke looked at Bellamy for help. He just shrugged his shoulders before commenting, "They seem to think knowing historical figures is weird. I don't get it either."

Rolling her eyes she waited for the assembled students to calm down. "There are massive problems that we could run into and we need them addressed before we can move forward."

"You mean like how you intend to gain a majority party in the Wizengamot? Cause I may not know politics, but I know that it isn't that easy." Raven crossed her arms glaring at her friend for leaving out information once again.

Clarke shifted, "I can't tell you. Its part of our problem. People have tried this before. And they have failed because they have underestimated just how far those in power are willing to go to keep the status quo, and because there is always someone who is capable of or willing to betray them. I don't know about you, but I don't want to find out what's on the other side of the veil or what it feels like to be kissed by a dementor. This leaves us with a problem, I can't tell you the intricacies of how to overthrow them because if it gets back to Jaha and his administration not only will we be stopped but anyone trying to use this method again will be stopped."

"So what, we just trust you to 'magically' overthrow the government while we risk our lives for you?" Octavia glared at her.

"Hey," Raven turned to Octavia, "hear her through before you start condemning her."

Clarke cleared her throat getting the attention of the room again. "Before we can actually plan in any detail or I can go over in detail the political side of things, we need to find a way to guarantee no one is going to end up betraying us. I'm not asking you to blindly trust me, I'm asking you to help me to find a way to prevent traitors that doesn't involve dark magic."

Raven raised an eyebrow, "Why can't we all just take unbreakable vows not to be turn coat traitors?" Monroe made a strangled sound while the halfbloods all straightened.

"Absolutely not! We are not voluntarily committing ourselves to slavery." Bellamy stood up angrily.

"That's a little harsh, it would work wouldn't it?" Raven glared at Bellamy.

Monty spoke up before Bellamy who was turning a surprising shade of red could reply. "If you accidently break the oath, even if it isn't intentional it still causes death Raven."

"So, just don't break it?" Raven frowned at him.

Clarke sighed, "Let's say in the oath we swear to never betray the rebellion. That would never work because if you even speak against the rebellion to cover your tracks you'll die. Or if we go specific to avoid accidental deaths of that sort, what happens if you talk to a possible recruit only to find out they were an undercover auror? You die. It would make having anyone who works in any meaningful way with the ministry almost guaranteed to die because of a fumble or mistake. Though there is a slight pain that the watchful know means that they are close to breaking their oath, it barely gives you enough time to stop yourself. There is a reason why the oath is so reviled in magical society."

"Well fuck." Raven slumped back into her chair. "Anyone else have an idea then?"

Jasper took a thinking position, "What about veritaserum? We just make sure everyone who joins up isn't a traitor and won't turn into one."

Bellamy nodded, "That could work."

Monty shoved Jasper slightly, "How would we afford that much veritaserum?"

Monroe answered him. "That's not all it wouldn't prevent someone from deciding to betray us down the line. We'd have to dose ourselves regularly."

Jasper replied to her, "But it could still work, and no magical slavery."

"Jasper, the cost would be insane, and the ingredients are class A restricted materials. Even with Clarke's connections getting or making more than three vials would be next to impossible and cost a small fortune." Monroe replied with an exasperated huff.

Clarke pinched her nose. "This is the problem every rebellion runs into, there just isn't a good option for this but it's absolutely necessary if we don't want to end up like the last people who tried."

"What exactly did happen to the last people who tried? You mentioned werewolves but I thought aurors just arrested them." Sterling said.

"Targeted werewolf attacks. The majority of the suspected members of the revolt were either mauled or turned into wolves themselves. They're now either dependent on the ministry for wolfsbane or dead. Our current trade relations with France were established at the time. It was never confirmed, but it's believed that Sydney, with Jaha's support, imported French werewolves infected with a strain of the curse specifically designed to make it faster acting and to have stronger effects. What I do know is that the French have a reputation for inhumane experimentation on magical creatures and have the largest black market for magical animal ingredients in the world." Clarke shook her head. "The point is we don't want to end up like them, dead, cursed, or politically isolated. What seats they still have are all hereditary and they couldn't pass a thing since both of the major parties won't deal with them at all."

"So, you want us to come up with a method of ensuring secrecy in spite of no one ever successfully figuring it out before?" Octavia said is disbelief, "You're not asking that much are ya princess." She rolled her eyes.

"What about magical contracts?" Harper suggested after a pregnant pause.

"They can be nullified if you know what you're doing. Historically they don't have a great track record, they either end up so tightly held that they are as bad as the oath or nullified, and you can never fully prevent loopholes." Bellamy replied.

"How on earth do you know that?" Raven asked surprised.

"I read." Bellamy said quickly, and then groaned on seeing that she wasn't going to take that as an answer. "I may have looked into trying to get some pureblood bigots to sign a contract that would prevent them from being dicks. Another problem is that if the contract is physically destroyed then it no longer holds. Someone signs the contract, then uses a switching spell with a fake, destroys the original and viola free from the contract."

"So, we have nothing?" Monroe frowned.

There was a pause before Jasper spoke up. "Why are we going with arguably legal methods? I mean we're already committing treason, so why not just go the whole way? Clarke you mentioned dark methods?"

Clarke grimaced, "Yes, the least objectionable being Hera's oath which would bind all of our loyalty but the price is a piece of our freewill. You'd never be able to change your mind. There would be no way for you to ever be convinced that our cause is wrong. It would be absolute and it would be effectively binding a piece of our souls to the cause."

Bellamy looked thoughtful, "Didn't the Dark Lord Anithikos in ancient Greece use that and then get assassinated by his own followers?"

Clarke nodded, "With the oath of Hera, you swear fealty to an idea or cause not a person. He spent most of his power trying to achieve personal gain instead of achieving the goals of their cause. His followers who were loyal to the cause, not the man, killed him."

"How do you know this Griffin?" Bellamy asked.

"Because I have his personal journal on magic he was writing at the time of his death. His second daughter inherited it and I had an ancestor who collected magical texts who bought it from her for six galleons and an enchanted duck." She shifted uneasily. "That book is one of the darkest in the family collection, most of the spells are horrendous."

"Is the only cost that we can never change our loyalties away from the group?" Bellamy brought the conversation back to the topic at hand.

"Yes, we'd lose the ability to change our minds about our commitment to the cause. So, if we take the oath we have to be sure that it's what we want." She paused thinking over the old pages she'd read through on several occasions. "Also, it will leave a physical mark."

"What like a tattoo?" Octavia asked, at Clarkes nod she grinned, "Badass, I'm down with that."

"What exactly does the oath involve?" Raven asked.

"We'd need to write down exactly what we'd be swearing to and make sure it's secure and doesn't have any obvious loopholes. Then we'd need a candle. Each person writes the oath with a blood quill. You will perform a binding curse on the parchment used for the oath. Then you burn the parchment with the candle next to your skin where you want the mark to appear. The smoke will sink into the skin and form a mark to anchor it. It's supposedly painful since it's tying a piece of your soul to your physical body." Clarke ran a hand through her hair. "There is no way around it since it involves soul and blood magic. Honestly, it's on the light side of the magic in the text, but even I can't be entirely sure what the consequences will be. It hasn't been performed to my knowledge since ancient Greece."

Jasper glanced at Octavia before straightening up in his seat. "Dangerous, basically untested ancient dark magic, count me in." He smiled brightly trying to hide his nerves.

Bellamy crossed his arms. "It would work?"

Clarke nodded, "It would and I'd be willing to take it first." She looked over at Octavia, "would that help your doubts about me?"

Octavia laughed, "Yeah, that would do it."

"So about this oath, how are we going to word it?" Raven asked while grinning.

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

"I think we have an acceptable oath. Monroe did you get the candles?" Clarke looked up from the parchment where they had been going over various versions of the oath.

"Yup, the house elves were very helpful at finding a candle with no magical properties made from pig's fat. Which is gross and they smell weird. Why couldn't the evil dark wizard make his magical oath of loyalty with a nice pine scented candle?" Monroe scrunched up her nose while setting down an armful of pig lard candles on the desk.

Raven laughed, "I think dark lords are contractually obligated to go with the grossest ingredients."

"We need a name for ourselves," Bellamy said from where he was bent over next to Clarke looking over the final draft of the oath. He looked up. "I mean what sort of proper rebellion doesn't have a name?"

Octavia looked up from the desk where she was doodling, not caring about the debate over the details of the contract. "Isn't the point not to get caught? Why do we need a name? Isn't this a secret war they don't know is a war till it's too late and all."

"She has a point Bellamy," Miller put in from where he was leaning against the chalkboard.

"What do you think we should call ourselves, 'The Bloods' or something equally obvious?" Raven piped up, seemingly daring him to call it something stupid.

"No," Bellamy scoffed. "Something meaningful that we can stand for. Like the Latrocinium!" He smiled at his own brilliance.

Clarke frowned while cracking her back after straightening up. "What on earth does that mean?"

"In ancient Rome a latrocinium was an undeclared war or banditry against the nation, typically conducted by the slaves or lower classes." He puffed up his chest with confidence. "It's exactly what we are, we just have one of the big wigs helping." He tipped his head towards Clarke.

"How do you even know that dude?" Jasper asked in disbelief.

"I read, and most magical texts predating 1900 are in Latin." He held himself with pride Clarke noted.

"Isn't that a bit obvious?" Clarke asked. "Like we'd literally be declaring our undeclared war?"

"I'm with her, way too obvious." Sterling put in.

"Wait, think about it. Clarke you need a name for your political party right?" Raven waited for Clarke to nod before continuing. "No one is going to actually look up what the Latin name you pick means. And even if they do isn't that exactly what a pretentious pureblood aiming to make their political name weeding out corruption would use. I mean a bigoted idiot would totally name themselves after a movement of the poor and feel self-aggrandized by doing it. It's kinda brilliant, even if I didn't come up with it." Raven looked around excited.

"She's right, I'd never make the connection." Monty added his opinion.

"It would clear up the phrasing in the last stanza of the oath," Clarke conceded. Looking around the group of excited teens she came to her decision. "Fine all in favor of naming ourselves the Latrocinium, raise your hand." It didn't take long for everyone to have their hand up. Clarke found herself smiling along with them. "Well then, I hear by declare the Latrocinium founded."

After a flurry of high fives and fist bumps Octavia spoke, "So are we getting this party started or what? My big mother hen of a brother is about to let me get a tattoo."

"Right," Clarke straightened herself up as the serious tone of the room returned. She pulled out a fresh piece of parchment and grabbed the blood quill. Carefully and without flinching she began to write out the oath.

" _We swear loyalty to the goal of spreading the truth about the prejudice within our government and rooting out that corruption._

 _We swear to remain loyal to our brothers and sisters who also strive for this goal._

 _We swear to fight for the rights and acknowledgment of every magical British citizen regardless of ancestry, species, or magical ability._

 _We swear to fight for these goals through the Latrocinium._ "

She shook her hand after finishing, it was a lot of text. Pulling out her wand she tapped the paper lightly and said, "as einai." The paper glowed a dark red before rolling up. Clarke had actually felt the warmth of the spell running down her arm and into the paper. This was going to be a surprisingly powerful spell she realized. Looking up she smiled wryly at Monty who was holding out a candle that he'd just lit for her. Taking the candle, she set it on the desk next to the rolled up oath. Reaching up she quickly pulled off her tie, vest, and shirt till she was left in just her bra. Raven whistled causing her to roll her eyes. "Shut up Reyes."

Taking the candle, she held it so that the flame was next to the side of her ribs. Picking up the parchment she held it in the flame from the candle. The flame licked at the paper before catching quickly. The flames turned a vibrant unnatural red quickly devouring the paper. The smoke darkened to solid black before seemingly sinking into her skin where she held it. Once the candle stopped producing the magical smoke the flame went out. Placing the candle back on the desk Clarke glanced down at the pooling black on her skin.

"Well that wasn't so bad." Jasper said cheerfully. "I was expecting fireworks or something."

"Fuck!" Clarke hissed gripping the edge of the desk. She could feel something ripping inside her and not inside her at all. It was painful in a way that she had never experienced. The black ink swirled burning against her skin as it took a shape. Finally, it stopped moving leaving a circular knot. Clarke waited to make sure it was done. She reached for her shirt quickly pulling it back on. "It took, the spell definitely took."

Octavia jumped up, "I'm so next that was amazing!"

"No, you're not." Bellamy stepped in front of her. "I'll go next."

Clarke held out the blood quill.

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

Sometime later everyone had taken the oath. They'd found that when touching someone who also had the mark they could feel it heat up against their skin. There had been a lot of swearing at the feeling of a piece of their souls being tethered. But overall it had gone well. Octavia was poking at her new tattoo on her shoulder. Looking up from it she brought them back to the topic. "So princess, what's this secret political plot you can not divulge?"

Clarke snorted in amusement at Octavia's focus. "Wells and I were planning on taking control from inside the Traditionalist party, after all the leaders of the party are our parents. We needed a way to control senior party members. From the time my father died when I was eleven, till now I invested most of my free time in trying to understand everything about everyone who might be involved."

She looked over at Jasper, Monty and Raven. "Those black notebooks Wells and I were always writing stuff in? Those are all the intricacies of every ministry member's political and personal life we could dig up. We recorded and fact checked every piece of gossip. The result is that we have extensive blackmail material on almost every relevant political figure."

"Politically, the trap we're setting is simple. While the Wizengamot and ministry are focusing on the chaos being created by the Latrocinium, I can establish myself as a relatively harmless idealist tilting at windmills who doesn't understand the way things are yet. Several of my father's closer allies and fringe members of each party are likely to join up just to shake things up and to attract notice. I should be able to pull ten of the seventy-three seats into the Latrocinium party within the first year that way."

"Once I've established myself as relatively harmless, we start disgracing various key members of either party from elected seats. With the parties losing support because of the chaos you will be creating the Latrocinium party should start winning seats that members are going to be resigning from each election cycle. Remember we don't need the all the seats, just the majority. I estimate that we will need approximately twenty-five seats before we can put in place a Latrocinium as Minister of Magic. What's left of the Old Guard from the last rebellion should join once they realize I pose a legitimate political threat to the Traditionalist and Purist parties. After all they'll want their pound of flesh. Then we start doing everything we can to implicate and disgrace the French. The further we can strain their relationship with the Traditionalist party the less organized their response against you guys will be. Depending on how much public opinion we manage to turn against them we should be able to pull the greatest political coup to ever occur."

"You are so not humble." Monroe laughed.

"How much blackmail do you have exactly?" Bellamy asked cautiously.

"Seventeen notebooks filled completely. I'm on my eighteenth. Then I have Wells' financial tracking and legal evaluations." Clarke knew it was a bit excessive.

"Merlin's soggy balls." Octavia gaped.

"So are you all in?" Clarke asked.

Bellamy shifted so the mark on his forearm was visible, "Obviously. But if you meant with your crazy, yeah, yeah we are. Promise we get to drag Jaha out of office in chains?" He grinned viciously.

"And straight to Azkaban if I have my way." Clarke agreed.

"Good, then how do we start? Cause I have a feeling you'll end us if we start passing out fliers." He leaned against a desk.

"First things first we need to organize. This room will need to be secured. Miller would you be willing to enchant the door with a permanent notice me not and some silencing spells?" Clarke waited for Miller to nod from his post against the chalkboard. "Good, we need to start listing people to recruit, Bellamy I'm sure you can handle that. Then we need to work on breaking the ministry's hold over the werewolves. The ministry's greatest weapon in off the book actions. Monty, Jasper, I need you guys to go over my notes on wolfsbane and see if you can help me finish remaking the recipe so that it's easier and cheaper to make and most importantly so that it doesn't use any restricted ingredients. Raven, we're going to need a method of communication since all of us can't constantly be seen interacting with each other." Clarke paused to make sure she still had her audience. "Octavia, Harper we need a list of every bigoted bully in the school that you think poses an actual threat of retaliation, include teachers. Monroe, I need you to help set up routes we can all use to get to this room that don't intersect with each other. Sterling, I know it's super boring but I need you to find real estate that would work as a base of operations once we graduate from Hogwarts. Does anyone have any questions about what their jobs are?" She looked around.

Miller spoke up, "No offense but just to be sure you and Bellamy are in charge, not just you?"

Bellamy straightened, "I got one of us killed."

"And I can't do this without you. Someone is going to need to be in charge of the more militant side of the rebellion and you're the man for the job." Clarke interrupted him. "We can add it to our list Blake, find a way for us to meet and discuss our plans."

He nodded and the others settled comfortably with the agreed upon leadership.

"Use school owls to contact anyone you don't have a history of contact with from this point forward. Curfew is in half an hour. Anyone have anything else to add?" Clarke waited till it was clear they were done. "See you all next week, same place, same time. Good luck with your jobs." She smiled and then started picking things up. It didn't take long for the group to file out in pairs till it was just her. Breathing deeply, she let the stress leave her body, her hand gripping where she now bore the mark of the rebellion. It was real and it was happening. She hoped Wells would be proud. Turning she headed out into the hall. She was surprised to find Raven leaning against the wall outside the door.

"What are you still doing here?" She asked.

"Waiting for you Griffin." Raven pushed off from the wall.

"Do you have a problem with making communication devices?" Clarke asked puzzled.

"Nope, I can do that. Easy as pie, don't go doubting me there." Raven smiled as cocky as ever. "No, I just had to say I was right."

Clarke frowned, "About what?"

"I knew you would get me in trouble the moment you took the seat next to me in potions after the mess with Finn. You said I was wrong. I told you I'm never wrong and that you would owe me a galleon when it happened. Looks like I'm right, queen of trouble. I was just expecting a detention for throwing a punch. I wasn't expecting to get involved with a revolution." She turned and started walking towards the stairs. "You owe me a galleon Griffin."

Clarke laughed, "I'll get that to you."

"With interest," Raven yelled over her shoulder.


	12. Chapter 12

Bellamy frowned at the framed picture he was hanging up. Looking behind him he asked, "Is it straight now?"

"A little up on the left." Octavia replied from where she was curled up in one of the chairs in the common room.

He shifted it a bit and looked back at his sister in question.

"Too far."

"O, we've been at this for ten minutes now!" He threw his hands up and jumped down from the stool he'd been standing on. "It's as straight as it's going to get."

"Damn it Bellamy," Octavia snapped, "It's Atom, we have to get this right." Her voice quavered slightly over Atom's name and she glared at him.

"Sweet Merlin, would you two shut up! It's straight, leave it." Monroe snapped from her place on a couch.

Aden snorted into his hot cocoa at the drama around him. Bellamy glared at the sound but quickly noticed that the crowd around him were all in various states of amusement. Most of Gryffindor house was assembled in their common room. Sighing he ran his hand through his hair. Without a distraction, his mind quickly returned to the grim reason for their assembly, though Atom was never far from his mind these days.

"Well then since it's 'straight' let's get this thing going." Clearing his throat, he began speaking, letting the grief he had been feeling lend weight to his voice. "As you know, one of our own disappeared two weeks ago. His trunk was missing and Sydney says he ran away because he couldn't handle the 'stress' of school. He hasn't been heard from since and now they say he must have been the victim of a tragic accident in the Forbidden Forest. It seems suspicious to me that he disappeared on the same night that Shumway suddenly took a leave of absence." Murmurs could be heard and numerous heads nodded in response to his remark.

"I can't tell you what truly happened. What I can tell you is that our friend was no coward. Atom stood up against bullying he did not whimper and cower in the face of the constant abuse and derogatory treatment inflicted on mixed blood and muggleborn students. That is why we have come here tonight to remember our friend, to celebrate him, and to honor a true Gryffindor hero." He raised his mug of hot chocolate. "To Atom!"

The room raised their mugs, Bellamy felt guilt swirling in his gut at having to twist the tale, but there was a certain poetic justice in fanning the flames of the conspiracy theories placing the blame for Atom's disappearance on Shumway.

"Atom was our friend, our brother. He may have disappeared but we won't let our fight and spirit disappear with him. No, let's show our Gryffindor courage. Let's come together and show this school that prejudice and bullying will not be allowed if any Gryffindor has anything to say about it." The crowd assembled around him cheered and Bellamy could see determination and drive light up in their eyes.

Bellamy walked over and leaned against a wall next to Miller. The common room was filled with voices as people started taking turns telling stories about Atom. He felt a smile tugging at his lips as Roma talked about the time, a third year, Atom jinxed a Slytherin girl that had called her a mudblood. The girl only let out honks for hours. The Slytherin had spent those hours chasing him through the castle trying to hit him with stinging hexes.

Miller shifted slightly, "You know I think the picture is a bit crooked actually."

"If you tilt your head slightly it's straight." Bellamy replied, looking at the definitely not straight picture. It was Atom's most prized possession, an autographed picture he had gotten of him standing with the Holly Head Harpy team. He'd gotten it at the game he'd won tickets to in a radio contest. He was standing in the center of the picture with the team around him and the beam on his face seemed to radiate happiness. All the players had signed the picture as well. The picture was now framed in the nicest frame they could transfigure and was proudly on display on the wall of the common room. It had been Harper's idea and they had all agreed.

Bellamy choked up on first seeing it realizing that Atom would never smile like that again. He felt the weight of Atom's death keenly. Atom had been following his lead when they pulled all those pranks and he had been trying to protect Bellamy's sister. Bellamy hoped that the picture would remind him of the cost of failure and what it was that they were all fighting for so he would never forget. Though the house had been given an edited version of events he hoped that they would get a similar inspiration from the picture.

"How's the research for enchanting our meeting room with the notice me not and silencing charms going?" Bellamy asked quietly.

"It's coming. Bryan has been helping find materials."

"Do you need any help with it?"

"Not unless you know someone else trustworthy with knowledge of enchantments. Really, it's just time consuming. The castle doesn't like being messed with."

Bellamy bumped Miller slightly. "Like the time you tried to enchant the door of the bathroom to not open for Slytherins but instead it just screamed when anyone touched it?"

Miller laughed sharply, "Rookie mistake there."

After that, the two friends fell into silence as they watched and listened to the gathering honoring their missing friend.

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

Breakfast the next morning was a slow affair. Gryffindor house was united in their exhaustion after staying up too late. Bellamy gratefully accepted the pot of coffee from Sterling. Having friends in other houses had unexpected bonuses, like coffee from the Hufflepuff table when they ran out at their own.

Octavia was snoring softly on his shoulder. He poured some of the new coffee into a mug and added the ridiculous amounts of sugar and cream his sister liked. Taking the mug, he waved it in front of her nose.

"Hmmm….smells good." She murmured reaching for it blindly.

He raised his eyebrows, "I think you're forgetting something."

Octavia groaned. "You're the best brother ever. Now give me my coffee." He surrendered the mug to her and she sighed in happiness as she breathed it in, sipping slowly after he had placed it in her outstretched hands.

"That's right I'm the best brother ever." He yawned while patting his sister on the head.

"Ass," she murmured into her coffee.

Bellamy chose to ignore the insult and began to munch on his morning toast. Getting through the day was going to be awful.

Four hours later and Bellamy was drooling on his history text. As much as he loved history, Binns had the magical power to put almost anyone to sleep. His will power gave in five minutes into the lecture.

He jumped awake when Miller kicked his chair. Glancing round he scrubbed at his face while making sure Binns hadn't noticed. The ghost was still droning on though so he figured he was safe. He turned to glare at Miller, who just shrugged unapologetically before gesturing towards the clock. Seeing that the class was going to be ending soon he decided to thank Miller for the warning instead of hexing him.

As soon as class ended he slipped out of the door to avoid the rush. He was missing lunch for this, he thought dismally while jumping over a trick step and heading up to the owlery. As he emerged outside and made his way across the last stretch to the owlery, he felt the cold nipping at his face. The weather had turned over the weekend the first frost settling in. When he at last arrived he saw Clarke standing there, a beautiful screech owl on her arm. He paused to watch her stroking it and cooing at it.

"So you have a soft spot for owls then?" He asked walking in the rest of the way.

She glanced over at him. "Not particularly, but my father got him for me when I was ten so I could send letters to Wells while we were in France."

He nodded in understanding. He was quickly realizing that her father was her hero. "So any news on the communication devices? Cause no offense but it's freezing up here."

She arched an eyebrow at him "You play quidditch?" She set the bird down on a nearby perch before turning around facing him properly. "Hold out your hands."

Cautiously, he held his hand out, curious about what she was doing. He yelped when she conjured blue flames in his hands. It took him a second to realize it wasn't burning him. Indignantly he glowered at her amused face. "You could have warned a bloke."

"You're the one who forgot he is a wizard."

"Oh ha ha." He pulled the crackling blue flames closer to him, they were warming him up quite nicely now that he wasn't freaking out over whether they'd burn him or not. "So is Raven done with the communication devices?"

"She found a charm that will work, the Proteon charm. Course there was a lot of technical talk about reworking the spell so proper messages could be sent. Honestly, I don't understand half of her spell crafting jargon. She was thinking jewelry would work for passing on short messages to each other like times and places for meetings, even a warning message. They heat up when used so we would know when a new message came through and then we would have two minutes to read it." She pulled out a pocket watch, "I was thinking I could use my dad's old watch."

"That's brilliant, you think it will work?" He queried.

"Oh course, if Raven say's it'll work, it'll work. I wanted to get your input and make sure you were on board before we moved forward with enchanting though."

Bellamy felt awkward. He knew he was technically a leader but Clarke was the one with the ideas and well the everything. Clearing his throat, he replied. "Thanks, yeah it's a great idea. The sooner we can get one to everyone the better."

"Any news on your end?" She asked putting the watch back in her pocket.

"Roma had an idea, she took the oath last night after the memorial for Atom." He shifted at the reminder of his failings. "She thinks the quidditch players in the rebellion should wear their marks of loyalty openly, make the tattoos a trend so people not with us get them for fun. Make it so it's not something unique to us."

"You think that would work?" She asked looking at him in surprise.

"I've learned the hard way to never doubt her when it comes to trends and fashion." He huffed hoping Clarke was unaware of the nail polish dare.

"It's a risk, but if she's right the reward would be worth it. Give your team the go ahead to wear them openly. Others can start wearing them openly not long after that." Clarke seemed to be thinking. "How's recruiting going?"

"About a quarter of those old enough in Gryffindor have sworn the oath so far. I believe that everyone in the house sympathetic to our cause and above fourth year will have sworn the oath by the time Christmas break gets here in a month." He was proud of his house showing its' willingness to fight the good fight.

He continued speaking after a pause. "Four more swore the oath in Hufflepuff this week."

Clarke breathed out. "That's good, really good. Raven brought in three Ravenclaws and I swore in two Slytherin's this week. I don't trust the majority of my house but Fox and Thalia can be trusted."

He was surprised by that news. "Why would two of your purebloods want in on this?"

"You have to stop looking at it from a perspective of blood. Yes, most of our opposition are purebloods but not all of us are bigots. It's about power and right now the purebloods have it. Ostracized purebloods are likely to help and any pureblood who recognizes the inevitable end of the current trends."

"Inevitable end?" Bellamy watched her carefully. "I thought we were at the end. How much worse can it get?"

"Bellamy as the muggle population grows what happens to the muggleborn population?"

"It increases as well." He answered cautiously.

"And the pureblood population has been stagnating for generations now, especially in the last two. It's actually decreased in size. The purebloods in power see the muggleborn population as an infestation destroying our way of life and challenging their power." She fisted her hands before giving him a dark look. "What do you do with a pest problem that gets out of control?"

Bellamy opened his mouth stunned. "You….you don't mean that...that's ridiculous!"

"It's already started." She ran a hand through her hair. "Did you see the story about the muggleborns who 'attacked' the Wizengamot members?" She waited for his nod before continuing. "They spat at them. They didn't physically or magically cause any harm to them. They've been sentenced to Azkaban, Bellamy. It's not the first time and it won't be the last."

"That's…." He stopped his protest as he thought about it. He'd grownup in a magical district lived in mainly by squibs, poor halfbloods and muggleborns. Hadn't he seen people taken in for crimes they clearly hadn't committed? Seen the way they were all treated for being 'inferior.' The aurors had never been a source of safety for them. His eyes widened in realization. "They're killing us off aren't they?"

Clarke nodded. "Slowly, and they don't see it as that but it's heading that way. They passed the Protection Act last month. Aurors can now stop and search a person based on blood. Then the Organized Crime Prevention Act from this summer makes it so gatherings of four or more muggleborns in one place can be brought in for questioning. Those laws people aren't paying attention to are just the beginning. The harsher the laws get the more people like us are going to fight back. The more they fight back the harsher the laws are going to get."

"We're going to get people killed!" He exclaimed in horror. "How can you be ok with that! Raven already gave me a lecture about escalating matters and getting people hurt. What we're doing will be on a much bigger scale than the bullying here at school, people will actually die. If it's just going to make things worse then why are we doing this!?"

She gripped his arm. "Breath Bellamy. It's part of the reason why we're using nonviolent methods. It will keep the legal backlash to a minimum while allowing us to do the most good. No matter how hard we try however, things are going to get worse before they get better. We can only do the best we can to minimize the consequences on the innocent."

"We should train our people to protect themselves if there is going to be this much of a risk!" He protested.

Clarke paused and tilted her head. "That's actually a really good idea. Come up with a plan for that and I'll help you put it into action."

His heart clenched in his chest a familiar feeling since Atom's death. "Let's get out of here, it smells like frozen shit." He needed to get out of here before he lost his temper at Clarke for how calmly she could talk about the deaths to come.

Clarke looked at him concerned for a minute before responding. "Ok, same time tomorrow?"

"Yeah, whatever, I'll be here." He started stomping out of the owlery not really sure where he was going.

He felt a grip on his robe holding him back. Turning he saw Clarke biting her lip looking at him. "Bellamy, you're doing the right thing. We need you."

He shrugged her hand off. "Yeah, I'm just gonna go." He made a hasty retreat before Clarke could hold him back again. He knew that something had to be done and that what they were doing was right. But he wasn't ready for this. He wasn't a leader. A leader was someone more like Clarke, someone with a plan. He was in over his head and he had no idea what he was doing. He wasn't a leader.

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

Harper had found him and dragged him to dinner from his corner in the library where he had been reading about past rebellions and realizing the massive death toll that seemed to go hand in hand with any rebellion.

His dinner was tasteless and he was ignoring the chatter of his friends around him while he ate. They seemed to respect that he was in a mood and mainly left him to himself. Octavia had been shooting him worried looks. His attention was caught by one of the fifth years. Smith and two of his friends were eyeing the Slytherin table excitedly. He hadn't planned a prank for today. He had time to wonder what on earth was happening when the pitchers at Slytherin table exploded sending stink sap everywhere with a loud boom!

He watched in impressed horror as the chaos it had caused spread. Laughter burst out of him as people started screaming while trying to get the goo off of them. Some of the neighboring Ravenclaws were swearing while trying to get some of the far flying spray off of themselves. Amongst the chaos he saw Clarke stand up. She looked half drowned in the sap. Bellamy followed her gaze as she looked down the table at the first and second year Slytherin girls who seemed to have either run away to their common room or were attempting to hide their sobs. Suddenly, it was not so funny anymore and the ache in his ribs from laughing was no longer a pleasant sensation. Returning his gaze to her face it became clear that Clarke was pissed, like really pissed. If eyes could burn people, his entire table would be roasted. She was striding towards them with an air that was truly terrifying. Most of the table had stopped laughing at the look. He glanced at the staff table and noticed that they seemed more than happy to let Clarke deal with it.

He heard Roma who was next to him swallow. "You didn't mention she was terrifying." She hissed out.

He rose from his seat intending to intercept her. However, as soon as she saw him rise she changed course to approach him. Deciding that it would be best if they met in a more private location, Bellamy retreated from the Great Hall and into the adjoining hallway. He was relieved when Clarke followed him, though she still looked boiling mad.

Once they were out in the hallway, Bellamy started glancing around to ensure that there was no one around who would overhear them. Before he had finished searching the area with his eyes, Clarke seemed to explode at him.

"Did you sanction this prank Bellamy? No, not this prank, this untargeted and cruel attack that did more to hurt insecure teenage girls than any pureblood bigots. I thought we were past this."

"No, princess, I had nothing to do with this one. I didn't even know anything was going on until I saw some suspicious glances in the direction of the Slytherin table right before it happened. Where do you get off accusing me anyway? Aren't we on the same team now?" Bellamy replied, feeling a bit angry that she was blaming him for this.

Clarke's anger seemed to cool a bit and she responded more calmly. "You're right, I shouldn't have assumed. But, Bellamy this is not an acceptable form of pranking. Those girls did not deserve to be humiliated in front of the whole school. There need to be consequences for this. Bullying of any sort can not be condoned."

"There will be consequences, Clarke. I have a good idea of who's responsible and I will make sure that I get their names to you once I've confirmed it. But, this is just kids being kids and doing stupid things. They didn't mean to do any serious harm. So, don't tear their heads off, okay. Don't let them serve a detention with one of those pureblood assholes. Just make them do some lines with you. I can personally attest that it was one of the most boring experiences of my life and that is including class with Binns." Bellamy was glad to hear Clarke chuckle at his joke. He was pretty sure that he had successfully defused the situation.

"Alright, I guess you have a point." Clarke let out with a sigh. However, her face became stern again as she continued firmly. "I want those names by tomorrow morning. If I don't have them there'll be trouble."

"Relax, princess." Bellamy chuckled, "I'll get you your names." With that, they both returned to the Great Hall to deal with the mess and finish their dinner. The hall had settled down in their absence though there were quite a few Gryffindors staring anxiously at the door as they entered. They seemed to relax at seeing Clarke more calm, but tensed when she glared at them before going to help clean up the stink sap.

Bellamy returned to his seat and was quickly pounced upon by Gryffindors seeking reassurance that Clarke wasn't going to kill them. After they had been sufficiently calmed, he returned to his dinner. Bellamy contemplated the events of the dinner. Maybe he wasn't as bad a leader as he thought. Clarke had been playing political games and gathering blackmail for so long that she had lost touch with what it was like to be an ordinary kid. She may be the one with the big ideas and plans, but these were his people. He was the one who knew them, he could help them, and deal with their drama in ways that Clarke couldn't. Maybe he could do this after all. He just had to take things one step at a time. Feeling reassured himself, he reached down, picked up his fork, and took a bite of potato that was warm and buttery.


	13. Chapter 13

"I swear to Salazar, Finn, if you are just trying to get me on my own, I will dump you in the lake." Clarke exclaimed as she saw him pause in front of a tapestry on the seventh floor.

"I promise you'll love this Clarke, it's super cool." Finn smiled at her.

Clarke crossed her arms in disbelief. "Finn, you've asked me out three times this year alone, if this is another attempt, I'll save you the time. It's not happening."

"That hurts Princess," He pouted at her, though his excitement was still evident. "But come on, let it be a surprise!"

"Fine, we're in an empty hallway, is there a passageway if you scratch a stone or something?" She relaxed her arms deciding to just get the whole thing over with.

"Come on, close your eyes princess. Take a step on the wild side." He grinned happily at her.

"I will hex you." Clarke narrowed her eyes.

"It's the spirit of the hall, I mean look at the tapestry, its Barnabus the Barmy! If there is a place to go a little crazy it's here. Live a little, have some fun."

Clarke came to understand in that moment why muggles found the idea of just punching someone so very appealing. "If I close my eyes will you finally open whatever is hidden in this hallway?" She asked exasperated. Finn was an ass, but he did explore the grounds a lot, so he might not be bluffing.

"Cross my heart and hope to die." He leaned up on the balls of his feet in excitement.

Clarke stared at him in confusion. What on earth sort of sentence was that? Why would he hope to die? Maybe he got hit by a confundus spell on the way here?

"Muggle saying Princess. Come on close your eyes and count to ten. It'll be worth it." Finn was waiting on the edge of his proverbial seat.

Rolling her eyes heaven ward, Clarke groaned. "Fine, you better not be leading me on Finn." She closed her eyes with a huff and a prayer he wasn't going to try anything stupid. She counted to ten while tensed, ready to slap the boy if he so much as touched her.

"Ten." She declared out loud before opening them and seeing a large door where before the ridiculous tapestry of Barnabas and his ballet student trolls had been. "Oh wow! How did you do that?" It was impressive magic for the door to be transformable like that.

"I present the Room of Requirement!" Finn opened his arms wide in a tada manner.

Clarke breathed out in disbelief. "That's a myth, there's no way…."

"Oh way. And the best part is, no one knows it's here except us! Wanna take a peek inside?"

"Like the real Room of Requirement, the one that creates whatever the user needs?" Clarke asked excitedly. It was a legend for a reason, the sheer amount of enchantment as well as semi-conscious magic involved in such a feat was incomprehensible.

"Yup!" Finn smiled, "So want to do the honors?" He stepped to the side so she had a clear shot at the room.

Clarke smiled at him before stepping forward and pulling the door open carefully, anticipation buzzing up her arms. The room on the other side was warm and cozy, with a roaring fire and a love seat situated comfortably in front of the fire. Turning to Finn, she glared. "Did you seriously try and use a legendary magical room the likes of which has never been replicated and the existence of which is controversial, to score a date…"

Finn leaned against the door jam, "Can't blame a guy for trying. And it's totally worth a date don't you think?"

Clarke pulled her wand out of her pocket slowly. "Finn we're over, we've been over since fifth year. Magical room or not, that's not going to change." She glared at the moron daring him to disagree.

"Princess you gotta forgive me eventually."

"No, I really don't." She pinched the bridge of her nose forcibly calming herself. "Right, tell me how you got the room working, the short version."

"Oh don't be like that." He begged.

"Now, Finn."

"You walk in front of the tapestry three times thinking about what you need and the room makes it." He said letting his body slump in disappointment.

"That's it?" She double checked.

He nodded morosely. "Can't we just talk for a while?"

"No," Clarke turned on her heel and headed away. She knew where the room was and the how of getting into it. She could explore its limits later. Hearing Finn following her caused fresh irritation to well up in her. He'd been like a damn bowtruckle attached to its tree, ever since they'd dated briefly. But, damn, the room was amazing, incredible, indescribable, it was pure gold. She stopped and turned, incredibly frustrated with herself. "Thank you for showing me the room."

He lit up from where he was following her. "Of course princess!"

It was almost painful to not roll her eyes. "I'll find a way to repay you."

"You don't have to do that, just seeing you smile is all the payment I need." He stuffed his hands into his pockets looking up at her clearly pleased.

"Yes, well, thank you." She continued on her way, she was going to find a way to pay him back or die trying. Maybe Finn would stop following her around if she kept it on the business exchange level. It was a futile hope. If he was anything it was determined, she had to give him that. Which reminded her, Bellamy was as determined and passionate about history as Finn was about pursuing her. He would really appreciate the significance of the discovery of the Room of Requirement and would no doubt spend countless hours trying to test its' limits once he found out about it. They had a meeting during lunch tomorrow in the owlery anyways. Plus, there had to be all sorts of ways that they could use it for the rebellion.

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

"There you are we were worried you wouldn't show!" Jasper exclaimed from his position hunched over a simmering cauldron. The spiraling fumes were really quite beautiful.

Clarke loosened her tie making her way further into the abandoned charms room. "Had to deal with Finn."

"He's a Hufflepuff, are we recruiting him?" Harper asked from where she was seated next to Monty and Jasper around the cauldron.

"Not likely, Finn is her and Raven's stalker ex." Monty said while pulling up a green vile and examining it carefully.

"You dated Finn? Isn't he a halfblood?" Harper looked up questioningly.

Clarke shifted uncomfortable with the topic. "I was angry with my mom and angry with Wells and Finn was working part time over the summer at a cafe. He was quite charming and we started dating. I found out after our first date in Hogsmeade that he was already dating Raven."

"Asshole." Jasper muttered while crushing some beetles on his cutting board.

"Wait, seriously? But you two are friends how did he think he would get away with it?" Harper asked in confusion.

Clarke sat down next to them taking her tie off completely. "We weren't friends then. I didn't really have any friends other than these two and Wells then. And Raven was always in the library. Honestly, if one of the other Ravenclaws hadn't seen Finn and I kiss and told Raven about it, I doubt we would have found out for months. Our social circles just did not cross."

"Oh wow," she sat back.

"Not only that, he has since tried to get both of us to take him back." Clarke huffed pulling out her giant text on Aconite.

"No!? But wait, how did you and Raven get to be friends then?"

Jasper snorted. "Oh that's a good story. After being slapped in the entrance hall by her boyfriend's other girlfriend, Clarke decided that the proper thing to do was to get Professor Byrne to switch her seat so that they sat next to each other. She just wanted a chance to make things up to Raven and thought that partnering with her, in Potions class for almost an entire school year was a good idea. Of course, Raven still needed some convincing, she was still angry enough to mess with their potions. From what I've heard, it was a very interesting couple of weeks in Potions class before Clarke finally managed to convince her that she didn't know anything about her and that she never would have dated Finn if she had." He grinned pushing his goggles up so he could see properly. "I'm still convinced she only changed her tune after you got her Poe."

"Poe?" Harper asked.

"Oh yeah, princess here gives the best gifts like a good little pureblood. I mean, she gave me these enchanted goggles last year that let me adjust the magnification like a muggle magnifying glass so I can see the finer details of all the different ingredients. Neatly wrapped and beautiful card written in gold ink included!"

Clarke blushed, "I don't see why this is important."

"Hush." Jasper waved his hand in her face. "Anyways, Clarke got Raven a raven trained to carry mail for Christmas. He had a lovely collar too. Raven named him Poe and thus their friendship was born." He gave a fond smile in memory, "Course we all got drunk off our asses when the break ended on Monty's and my signature moonshine. Our finest batch ever thanks to my fancy new goggles."

"Birds are a traditional gift at the beginning of a new friendship. As are quills, stationary, and other means of facilitating contact." Clarke defended.

Monty snorted. "Yeah, Jasper, I'm pretty sure it was the drunk one-night stand that moved them past the ex-thing not the bird." He tilted his head slightly. "That said, their friendship is totally due to us and our moonshine." Grinning he stuck his hand up and fist bumped Jasper.

"You swore to never speak of that again!" Clarke hissed.

"So, you and Raven are a thing?" Harper asked carefully, she was clearly curious.

"Sweet Merlin no!" Clarke coughed, "We were just drunk, I don't think Raven is into girls really."

Harper flushed some before grinning slyly, "But you are?"

Clarke opened the book with a sharp thump. "I like to keep my options open."

"You really don't care about blood do you?" She asked, surprised to find that Clarke would be so willing to admit to having a relationship with a half blood and seemed so uncaring about Jasper revealing her one-night stand with a muggleborn.

Clarke gave it serious thought for a minute. "Yes and no. I do care about how their status will affect my plans and reputation. But if I care for someone those things can be dealt with. If you mean on a basic level, no, magic is magic. I don't know if I could date a muggle though, having to hide something so intrinsic to who I am would be difficult. I don't see why it matters, it's not like this is the time for any sort of relationship."

Jasper sighed, "You're no fun."

"I'm lots of fun. Now, tell me how it's going with the potion." She raised her eyebrows expectantly.

Monty groaned. "This is the single most frustrating potion we've ever attempted."

Jasper nodded, "Harper here found some replacements for the bleeding silk leaves but it comes back to the wolfsbane. We've gone over your notes a thousand times. It's just not going to happen Clarke."

"I mean the bleeding silk and wolfsbane were the only ingredients you hadn't already either found ways to replace or substitute. Your notes were 'magical,'" Monty grinned at the joke. "but honestly, I think at this point we and especially you, know more about the potion than its creator."

"Did you try any of the replacements for aconite and monkshood? Wolfsbane, aconite, and monkshood are the same thing, though not all texts label them as such." She asked, without much hope. She knew that the boys would know that pretty basic information.

Monty shook his head. "Doesn't work, wolfsbane is the only known way to magically affect the wolf aspect of the curse. None of the usual substitutes work and I cannot tell why."

Harper spoke up, "It could be any number of reasons. Magical plants have their own magic to them that isn't logical sometimes." She smiled at Clarke, "Sorry."

"But you agree we can replace the other ingredients with non-restricted ones? And you definitely found a replacement for the bleeding silk?"

"Yup!" Jasper smiled slapping Monty on the back. "We're the best dude!"

"Guess that means we need to either change the legal protection of a class A restricted material or find an illegal trafficker and pay for their silence." Clarke groaned. Illegal wares were one thing but the sheer amount of wolfsbane they would need to import would raise red flags even in the illegal markets.

"It can't be that bad, can it?" Monty asked.

Clarke just thunked her head down on the desk in front of her and moaned. Well, at least the boys would be free to start recruiting in Hufflepuff in their free time now. Look at that, a silver lining, or she could just make them help her research how she was going to get a bill unrestricting the use of a linchpin in the government's control of the packs through.

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

Clarke scratched lightly between the shoulder blades of Godric, her screech owl, while waiting for Bellamy. She liked being up in the owlery. The first snow of the year had fallen the night before and the grounds spread out before her under a light layer of powder. She buried her nose in her green and silver scarf. This time of year was always stressful and she'd come to appreciate the quiet outside.

"Sup princess!" She heard Bellamy announcing his presence.

Sighing, she set Godric back on a perch before turning to face him. She was surprised to see Miller with him, but otherwise he was as she'd expected, bundled up in worn robes with a bright red and gold scarf wrapped around his face. "Hi Miller, what's the occasion?"

"That's cold Griffin." Bellamy protested, "I don't even merit a greeting?"

Clarke rolled her eyes, "Greetings Blake. I assume if you brought Miller it's because of something important?"

"Not feeling chatty today, alright." He folded his arms across his chest for warmth. "Well, Miller here had an excellent idea we wanted to pitch to you."

Clarke waited for Bellamy to continue.

Miller hunched a bit, "My dad is an auror, but he works guard detail at Azkaban. He was a top recruit, high scores in everything. But because he's a muggleborn, he's never been given so much as desk work." He clenched his fists in anger before continuing. "Shumway's position as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is going to be filled eventually, it can't keep being study hall with a staff member supervising. My dad is qualified for the position, but would never be hired. You could get him the job. It would give us a teacher on our side."

Clarke stopped to think about it. "He'd need a sponsor from the board, but that can easily be arranged. Are you sure he'd be willing to take the loyalty oath and join the rebellion?" She measured Miller carefully.

"He has more than enough reason to want things to be different. And he's a real auror, he could help us learn how to defend ourselves!"

"That's the other thing," Bellamy interjected. He was clearly proud of the next point. "Roma and Monroe came up with a way we can start organizing and recruiting while training our members."

"Remind me to get them something for Christmas, what did they come up with?" She asked excitedly.

"Study groups! Here," he pulled a roll of paper out of his pocket and handed it over to Clarke. "That's got all the details of their proposal on it though you'd need to be the one to get it started. The idea is that if we have approved study groups, we can have group interactions with people outside of our usual social groups and hopefully expand our support base further into the general student body. It would also give us a safer way to get a feel for who might be sympathetic to our cause. An additional bonus is that it gives us a way to train each other without raising questions."

"Impressive work guys. That idea has a lot of potential. I will see if I have anything to add and draft it into a format that I can send to the Headmistress soon. We might even be able to use it as a way to protect students from persecution to a certain extent. I will look into it and get back to you. I'll also see what I can do about getting your father nominated as a candidate for the replacement Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." She nodded towards Miller.

"My end hasn't been as productive I'm afraid. The boys were able to help with the wolfsbane but we're going to need to de-regulate the trade of aconite. So, till I'm in the Wizengamot there isn't anything we can do to try and get the werewolves out from under the ministry. If you need Jasper or Monty's expertise on any of your projects they should have the time. I'm sure they'd thank you. I have them and Harper researching the legal code in relation to magical plants. Raven has worked out the kinks for enchanting jewelry to be able to communicate with each other. The group working on the wolfsbane potion has already gotten some jewelry enchanted with the spell. Apparently they find it very convenient for arranging meetings. You'll need to coordinate with her about getting the rest of the rebellion outfitted with their own enchanted jewelry."

Bellamy turned serious following along. "I was thinking we need another meeting of the older members of the group soon."

"You're probably right, can you make sure they all bring an item of jewelry with them to be enchanted that they would be willing to wear on a regular basis?"

"Of course, any other progress on your end?"

"Sadly no, although I did have an interesting evening yesterday. Finn found the Room of Requirement."

Bellamy seemed to come alive with excitement, "The real deal! You know where it is!?"

Clarke smiled at his excitement. "I do, I was thinking you'd be the best choice for evaluating its use for us. Although we do have to be careful since Finn will know where it is and we're not recruiting him."

"Do you have any idea how important this discovery is?! According to legend Rowena Ravenclaw's daughter was the one who created it!"

"So, it's a big deal?" Miller asked from the side where he'd been quietly listening in.

"It's a big deal." Clarke assured him while Bellamy stared at him like he didn't even know who he was. Clarke turned to Bellamy, "So, if I give you directions can you find it and start exploring it and finding its limitations?"

Bellamy nodded eagerly. "I'll get to that as soon as we're done here. It's probably been untouched for decades!"

"I'll try not to keep you waiting then," Clarke was amused by his excitement. "Anything else on your end?"

Bellamy tried to forcibly bring himself back to task. "Sterling hasn't been having any luck finding a property that's usable as a safe house and get away place for us in a magical neighborhood. Everything is too expensive or it's too far away from the shopping districts to be of much use."

Clarke pinched her nose. "Bellamy, I'm rich. Really, really rich. I might not be able to fully finance the rebellion, but I can definitely help out a bit with funds. Tell Sterling to meet me in the library with everything he's found after dinner. And to bring that runes essay we got from Sinclair this morning, we can work on that as a cover. Oh, and we should probably look for someone outside of Hogwarts to recruit who can skate below notice and make large purchases for us."

"I think I know someone like that." He blew out, "Would a squib with sticky fingers work?"

"As long as they aren't too sticky, sure." Clarke said.

"I'll set up a meeting during break with him then." Bellamy groaned, "He's not going to be happy to see me."

"Do I want to know?" She asked.

"Not really."

"Right, then is there anything else or are we done for today?" She asked looking at the two boys.

They both shook their heads before heading out, "See ya princess."

She stared up at the ceiling of the owlery, "I've got to get people to stop calling me that."


	14. Chapter 14

"Like the man bracelet Blake." Raven grinned while closing her hand around the bracelet Bellamy had just handed over to her.

Bellamy shuffled slightly trying to pretend the girl didn't make him uncomfortable. "Just get on with it would you."

"I'll have you know this is a very complicated series of spells and enchantments, some of them I invented myself. I then have to anchor them to the object with runes. But sure, I'll just get on with it." She rolled her eyes.

"I thought Clarke said it was the protean charm?" Bellamy scrunched up his eyebrows in confusion, it hadn't sounded that complicated.

"Oh ye of little brain." She covered her chest in mock horror.

"I get excellent grades thank you very much." He crossed his arms annoyed.

Raven sighed, "The protean charm is just a connector. I used it to link the enchantments and spells into a single piece of magic, which is its' own branch of magic, thank you very much. Do you know how many things exploded before I got them to work in harmony? Magic is alive. It is imagination given form, it doesn't like being controlled. I used the protean charm as a template for the linkage and then extrapolated from there. The runic work is what keeps it from being a one-time thing." She smiled proudly up at him, daring him to challenge her brilliance

Bellamy was dumbfounded. "How the hell can you do that? Isn't that like advanced spell crafting?"

"Yup," she popped the 'p'. "But, I'm just that fabulously brilliant. Bow before me."

Bellamy gave her a mock bow. "My apologies for underestimating you." Glancing at the pile of various pieces of jewelry, he cocked his head. "So, what are they called then?"

"J.E.M.S. or Jewelry Enchanted Message Service. I'm going to patent them when I get out of school. I was thinking we could call them Babbling Bling till the patent gets accepted."

"Isn't that a bit cheesy?" He asked cautiously.

"Bling, bling, baby." She winked. "Monty and Jasper came up with the name, and you have to admit it's catchy."

"I….please don't say I'm going to have to wear something called Babbling Bling." He groaned. "Octavia will never let me live that down."

"That's the breaks, learn to love your bling. Unless you think you could do better?" She gave him a challenging stare.

He held up his hands in surrender. "I accept my fate."

"Good, now fetch me hot chocolate so I can work in peace." Raven said while pulling out her etching tools for the runic work.

"The meeting is starting in half an hour." Bellamy protested half-heartedly.

"You better hurry then." She grinned. "Put those quidditch muscles to use."

"Fine." He shrugged figuring it was the lesser evil and headed down towards the kitchens.

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

Bellamy stepped out of the kitchen and bumped the portrait of the bowl of fruit shut with his back. Life was good, his pockets were stuffed with sweet cakes and rolls. He had an eclair sticking out of his mouth, while he balanced a tray of hot chocolate. He loved house elves, the school elves had happily stuffed him with every sweet thing they could before he managed to escape.

As he carefully made his way along the corridor, he considered whether he'd ever be able to have a house elf of his own. They were fabulous creatures, maybe he could pay one who had been given clothes a weekly salary. There was no way he'd ever be able to buy one from an established family. It was a fond daydream of better days, when he wouldn't be scrounging for every knutt he could get his hands on.

He was brought out of his daydreams by a shoulder being rammed into him, hard. Spinning round the obstacle in his path, he leaned forward desperately trying not to lose the hot chocolate on the tray. Three hops and two crashed mugs later, he managed to right himself and the remaining mug. Spinning on his heel as fast as he dared, he turned to the asshole who'd just shoulder checked him.

He exclaimed, "Watch it!"

Looking down his nose at him, Dax straightened his robe arrogantly. "You should watch where you're going Blake."

"You rammed right into me dipshit," He snarled.

"You don't even deserve to be talking to me, you're the son of a two bit whore. You should know to get out of the way of your betters," He sneered.

Bellamy felt himself shaking in rage. "You're an inbred peacock," He spat.

"Fifteen points from Gryffindor for calling names don't you think?" He smirked. "And let's take another five for touching me with your filthy shoulder."

"You can't do that." The injustice of this exchange was fraying his control.

"What, are you going to go cry to Griffin about it? Just because you're a whore like your mother and Griffin has poor taste doesn't mean she's going to save you from everything." His eyes glinted with a malicious light.

The only thing keeping Bellamy from going for his wand was the hot chocolate on the tray and knowing Clarke would eviscerate him if he was late for the meeting because of detention. Closing his mouth, he felt his jaw muscles standing out but he forced himself to hold still. "I have better things to do than deal with whatever your issue is with Griffin."

Even though it burnt him inside to turn his back on the bully, he began to stiffly march towards the stairwell.

Dax's voice followed him as he left. "I'm going to find out what you're up to Blake, and you're going to regret it."

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

Bellamy clunked down Raven's mug of chocolate in front of her without a word before moving to the front of the room where Clarke was talking quietly with Monroe about something. Raven called out after him.

"What's got your robes in a twist?" There was a playful edge to her voice.

Tensing, he forced down a biting retort. "Dax being a pureblood piece of shit."

Raven laughed. "Dude, Dax is always a cruel inbred idiot, the only question is how big of a jerk he will be on any particular day."

He ran his hand through his hair angrily. "Isn't there anything we can do about him? He's been getting worse and I've heard rumors that he is asking questions about Shumway's disappearance."

Raven shrugged, "Ask the princess, but I doubt it. If she could have shoved him down Myrtle's toilet she would have done it years ago."

Clarke, whom he hadn't realized was listening in on their conversation, piped up. "He's a pain, but I think I have a way to make the tutoring system you guys came up with curb most of his power. So, we may be able to pretty much neutralize him."

"Tutoring can do that? And you got it approved already?" He asked in surprise. Most of the room had quieted down as they eagerly listened in on the conversation going on.

"No, but I have a meeting scheduled with the Headmistress after this and I'll be presenting the proposal then." She replied.

Trina, one of the new recruits from Hufflepuff, piped up. "How can you be sure it'll be approved then?"

Bellamy froze when he saw Octavia opening her mouth. He knew his sister and if she wasn't going to make a quip about the oath Sydney was under he would eat his left foot. Clarke seemed to notice too and cut her off before she could speak.

"Sydney is obsessed with power and image. A tutoring program, like the one we worked out last week, would be a significant change to Hogwarts. To someone like Sydney, who wants to leave her mark and have a legacy, it's like putting gold in front of a niffler."

There were some good humored chuckles at the comparison to the fuzzy little treasure seeking animals. Bellamy relaxed fractionally, he still wasn't sure how tutoring could be used to neutralize Dax, but he could ask Clarke later. He decided to get the meeting started before any more near misses could occur.

He cleared his throat gaining the attention of the room. "So, let's get this shindig underway then. This room is now fully secured and alternate paths to the room are posted on the wall. Make sure you mix up your routes when heading here and when leaving." He gave a meaningful stare to some of the more absent minded members of the group.

Breathing in he continued, "As you all know we are starting up a tutoring program. We're all still students, so we need to learn and prepare for when we can start this revolution in earnest. So, you are all going to join the program. Clarke will make sure you are all paired with people either in need of our protection or sympathetic to our cause. This will be one of our first steps in the fight against prejudice. I know it seems small but it's important. If people of 'lesser' blood," he made quotations with his fingers, "can achieve success regardless of teacher bias they'll be safer and better prepared for the time ahead. And when we are ready to take the fight to the assholes in charge they won't know what hit them."

Murmurs of approval washed across the room of over fifty students. He felt pride well inside of his chest. He saw Clarke stepping forward and he moved out of her way.

"Bellamy is right, it's important we prepare everyone to be able to defend themselves in all arenas of the magical world. I know most of you and indeed a large part of the school deal with bullying. Bullies by nature are cowards. You all know this is true. Attacking them back will do nothing but validate them, we have to be better than them." She spoke out, passion starting to enter her voice and those in the room watched her carefully.

"The honest truth is I can't stop it. Some of the professors, like Byrne, even add to the problem. So, please don't go anywhere alone. Encourage the younger years and everyone you think is at risk to implement a buddy system. Make yourselves available to walk places with others. Our goal is to help. I don't want to see a single lone muggleborn student in the halls by the end of the week."

"So, we just have to suck it up and what, we're responsible if they attack us then?" A Gryffindor in the back asked.

Bellamy spoke up before Clarke could, united front and all that. "That's exactly what we do. We are trying to create a better country where prejudiced has no place. We can't do that if we fall to the same level as the bigoted frog spawn. We're not saying you take this stuff lying down though. Come to us with problems and we'll do what we can to nip it in the bud. Look at what the Princess did to Ontari for hurting Aden."

"Bellamy is right, think of the buddy system like a locking charm on your trunk. A determined thief might still steal from your trunk, but the simple charm can prevent most others from getting in. Sticking with each other might not completely prevent bullying, but it is a simple preventative measure that can eliminate some of it." She paused and then rolled her eyes before adding.

"And if something does happen, or a prank goes wrong, I can always cover for you in the medical wing. But, I am not going to get you potions on the sly. If you come to me for those I'll treat it just the same as if it was anyone else. The data we record on potions is important and I'm not going to sabotage those records for you."

Bellamy made a choking noise, "Seriously?"

Clarke looked resigned as she looked at him with a deadpan stare. "Eight requests this week and not even all from the rebellion. Contraceptive potions are particularly popular. It's a plague on my apprenticeship."

"Right," He coughed attempting to change the subject, he didn't want to think about what kind of potions Octavia might be requesting. He was better off not knowing what sort of 'girly' potions his sister might need. "Next, for those of you who haven't already done it you need to get a piece of metal jewelry to Reyes so she can enchant it. Meeting times and warnings will be sent out using them. You can let us know if Byrne is being especially harsh, or if a pack of bigots are gathering somewhere and you think it's going to be trouble."

Clarke took up from where he had left off. "The Gryffindor quidditch match this weekend is going to be the first time for openly showing of our marks. Roma could you explain how that's going to go?"

Roma stepped up, if Bellamy noticed the cleavage she had on display he was only human. "So, we all have tats on us that basically announce we're part of a revolt. We're going to turn it into a fad so other people get it besides just us. Since Gryffindor is the best house, our whole quidditch team has taken the vow." She fist bumped Harper before continuing.

"The team will all be wearing their quidditch robes without sleeves since they all got their marks on their arms. We're fortunate that whatever magical thing that formed these marks had them take the shape of the earth square, or as Bellamy has happily informed us otherwise known as the Shield Knot. And it is a popular muggle symbol for protection."

Bellamy scoffed, "It's common knowledge!"

"Sure it is," Roma humored him. "If any of you have free time we're going to be meeting in here after dinner for the rest of the week making charms with our symbol on it to pass out. Think of it as a good luck charm for our inevitable victory." She smiled happily at the room, while a couple of quidditch players from other house teams made indignant noises.

"After the game you can start letting people see your marks. Be sure to tell your friends how cool the tattoos are!" She sat back down pleased with her work.

Bellamy prompted the next order of business. "Once we are ready to start acting we're going to need distractions to allow us to escape and not be arrested. Jasper and Monty are in charge of fireworks, smoke bombs and other aids. Anyone with free time can help them in their station in the back of this room with mass producing those. Boys do you have anything to add?"

"You covered about all of it." Monty piped.

"We're good to go, we're the maestros of chaos!" Jasper grinned while checking to see if Octavia was looking at him.

Bellamy narrowed his eyes, he'd have to nip that in the bud. "Miller, has your dad agreed to apply for the teaching position?"

Miller spoke up from where he was leaning against the wall. "He sent in his application."

Clarke spoke up, "I've contacted Callie Cartwig from the board of governors. She's agreed to sponsor his application."

"Does anyone else have anything to bring up?" He looked around. A Hufflepuff, Myler, raised his hand.

"Do we have any plans for over break?" He questioned.

"Um.." Bellamy looked at Clarke for help. Long term planning wasn't his thing, and he hadn't really planned anything past finals next week.

"Recruitment. We need more than just us if this is going to work. Be careful, scope out your parents, family, and friends. Come back with a list of who you think is ready to join and make a case for them. Bellamy and I will decide whether to approve their eventual entry into the rebellion. Use the Babbling Bling to send a message if you need." Clarke waited till everyone seemed to understand before looking over at him and signaling him to continue.

"Look guys we only have a week and a half of school left before the break. Be sure to actually study, we don't want to give anyone an excuse to look down on us. Keep up the good work with scoping things out with your friends and dorm mates. And prepare yourselves for feeling things out with your family over break. Since that seems to be all make sure you're safe getting back to your houses."

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

"That went well I think," he heard Clarke remark as the last of the new recruits exited leaving just himself, Clarke, Octavia, Monroe, Harper and Sterling.

"So, why can't you just order Sydney to deal with Dax?" Octavia asked.

Bellamy frowned, now that it was just them it was safe to ask the question that had been bothering him since the start of the meeting.

Clarke however looked angry. "He's a schoolyard bully and I won't treat a human being like a slave if I don't have to!"

"You already forced her to swear herself to you. Why not just use that to our advantage?" He asked confused at this point of view.

"Because she is a human being and we are fighting for the rights of everyone, not just the people we like. What sort of hypocrite am I, are we, if we violate a person just to make sure our lives are a little easier? I won't take advantage of my power over her unless it is absolutely necessary. I won't force her to keep Dax in line and she is who she is so it would take a direct order and I am not willing to go that far." Clarke's voice cold and even as she spoke.

"Right, sorry. We shouldn't have asked." Harper said while grabbing Octavia's arm.

Bellamy sort of got it, he figured it was like the pranks and how Clarke didn't want them using them to become bullies themselves. Too much and too far and it made everything worse.

"Look," Clarke's voice was tired. "We are walking a fine line here. Unless we are careful we will create a government just as corrupt as the one we are overthrowing. Methods matter. It's like Bellamy said, we have to be better."

Bellamy felt a warmth in his chest at Clarke referring to him in that way. "So are we good or is there anything else we need ready before the game on Saturday? Cause if not, I need to drive my team into the ground so we can crush those slimy snakes, no offense Princess."

"None taken, I hate quidditch." She muttered.

"You hate quidditch!?" Octavia yelped in outrage and shock.

"It's a terrible game, and the point system is illogical." She shrugged.

"But…." Bellamy searched his mind for words for this level of blasphemy. "It's quidditch!" He added as an afterthought, "and you go to every game!"

"I'm the head girl, and before that I was a prefect. We're required to go." She rolled her eyes. "I've never understood why my father was so fond of it. I've kept his investment in his team of course. But, attending matches with him was only fun as a way to bond with him."

"His team?" Monroe questioned curiously.

"Appleby Arrows, my family owns them. If you guys ever want tickets, I can always get some for you." She picked up her bag. "Now, if you don't mind, I have to go convince Sydney that the tutoring program will benefit her."

Bellamy was left gaping as she left the room in a swish of robes. It just wasn't right that she didn't like quidditch. Who didn't like quidditch? It just wasn't natural. He looked at his equally gobsmacked friends and sister. "...she's insane." He uttered.

"Completely bonkers." Octavia agreed with him.

Sterling glanced around. "Are we sure she should be our leader? Like she doesn't seem quite all there."

Harper patted him on the shoulder. "I think she used up the part of her brain reserved for quidditch on legal fuckery."

There were nods around the room….

Bellamy stuck his hand in his pocket and found he couldn't because it was still stuffed full of sweet buns. "Who wants a sweet bun?"


	15. Chapter 15

Clarke always found something comforting about the sounds of her steps echoing off the stone walls of the castle. When she was little, her father would take her with him to an old family castle and they would play hide and seek for hours and hours inside of it. She'd loved those hours and she loved that Hogwarts reminded her of them. The family castle wasn't her and her father's special place any more. Her mother had donated it to the government and it now housed the French magical embassy.

There was a vindictive part of Clarke that was looking forward to seeing her mother's reaction when she realized Clarke was taking back the headship of the family in a few weeks time. Her mother was ignorant of so many things about Clarke that Abby's inability to see that her daughter had stopped being under her control years ago wasn't that surprising. Clarke's ambition shouldn't have been surprising, after all, house's ran in families and Slytherin had been her mother's house when she'd been in school. It should have been obvious to her mother that Clarke would not forever remain naive and biddable. It would be a beautiful moment when she took away the status and power Abby had stolen by killing her husband. Clarke was going to do it one piece at a time. Her father would not have approved and she doubted a version of her who had grown up with her father would have either. But, that Clarke was now only a remembered possibility and this was the only path she could see for the person she had become instead.

Clenching her fist, she forced down her anger as she came to a stop in front of the gargoyle guarding the entrance of the head mistress's office. She raised an eyebrow in surprise when it stepped out of her way without even waiting for the password. Sydney must be making a power play then.

"Ah, Miss Griffin, punctual as always." Sydney sneered from behind her desk at Clarke as she entered the office.

Clarke groaned internally, this was going to be difficult. "Evening Headmistress." She sat down and pulled out the proposal and set it on the desk for Sydney to look at.

"What's this, paper and not a severed finger." The witch snarked.

"It's a proposal." Clarke stated clearly.

Sydney sighed before reaching out and flicking through the neatly stacked papers. She looked up at Clarke disbelievingly. "Tutoring. You have the power to make me do anything you want and you're going to make me approve a tutoring program?" There was incredulity dripping from her voice.

"I'm proposing not ordering actually." Clarke flicked a piece of hair behind her ear. "I have no interest in a slave Ms. Sydney. I just needed you collared. I'm sure you'll find that this proposal is beneficial to both of us."

Sydney clasped her hands on top of the desk and examined Clarke carefully. "How so?"

"You're aware that Britain is falling behind the rest of the magical world in education. Our stature as a leading power in the magical world is diminishing. Hogwarts needs to reclaim its reputation for educating the best and brightest magical minds. This tutoring program will help. It'll allow motivated older students to help the younger years and everyone's scores should go up. The tutors gain experience teaching and recognition as a top student which will make them attractive to those seeking apprentices. Assigning tutors to supervise detentions could turn them into educational opportunities as well." Rebellion friendly tutors supervising detentions could provide some protection against half-blood and muggleborn hazing as well.

Clark continued, "It'll give you a platform for bringing in exceptional witches and wizards into this school to put on lectures and possibly even decide to take apprentices. It will encourage relationships across house lines. Mixing of the houses has benefits as well and you know it. There is a reason Kane, Jaha, my father and you all moved up so quickly through the government. You made friends outside your houses, networking at its most strategic. You may never hold political office again, but that doesn't mean you can't have former students, whose ears you can speak in, who will."

"Why not simply order me to do this? And don't feed me a lie about your morals this time." She asked carefully looking over the proposal more closely.

Clarke raised an eyebrow, "You may see yourself as languishing here, but you hold remarkable power that you are simply wasting. I want you to use that power to assist me. We both benefit." Clarke decided to just ignore the fact that the cold hearted bitch in front of her thought morals were negligible.

"How would this assist you? As much as you say I am wasting my power at Hogwarts, it is a greater one that you are headed for St. Mungo's instead of political office." It was clear that her thirst for power and prestige made it incomprehensible to her that Clark would seek anything else.

Clarke grinned sharply, she had her. Sydney was so very good at falling into her traps. It was her hubris at thinking she knew more than she actually did that led her so often astray. "Agreed, I've decided to take my family seat on the Wizengamot over Christmas break. I want to found a new party that will return Britain to its former glory. Education reform is a good place to start don't you think?"

Sydney tilted her head back and laughed, "You do indeed have grand plans." Clark held her breathe as she watched Sydney's face. You could almost see the wheels turning in her head as she evaluated the opportunity. A fiery glint appeared in Sydney's eyes. Clarke was certain she was contemplating the possibilities of manipulating a young idealist. Fine, plot away, she thought. A willing political ally is so much better than one coerced by dark magic.

Clarke sharpened her gaze making sure she had Sydney's complete attention. "So, tell me, how do you want to be remembered. The washed up political has-been who languished in Hogwarts, or as a champion of education reform, immortalized as a pioneer of her time?" Sydney seemed to be conflicted but her eyes were alight. Finally, she pulled out a quill and flipped to the last page of the proposal and signed it with a flourish.

Clarke turned on her heel and left the office heading down the stairs into the hall. She'd done it, she'd gained a willing ally, not a trustworthy one like Raven, or Bellamy, but a politically important one. There was a bounce to her step as she headed down to her dorms, it had been a good day.

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

Quidditch was an illogical juvenile sport that turned her peers and elders into children after a few too many sugar quills. Fortunately, Raven agreed with her opinion of the sport and watching with her made the whole thing bearable. She was waiting for Raven's meeting with Professor Sinclair to end so they could head to the pitch. Leaning against the wall outside the door, she listened in on the highly technical discussion the two were having on anchoring magic with runes.

"What you've done here is incredible but you should be judicious with putting it into practice." Sinclair cautioned.

"Why? The theory is sound and you agree it worked on a smaller scale." Raven replied, her voice filled with a familiar annoyance that caused Clarke to smile.

"You're approaching magic from too muggle of a perspective." Sinclair explained.

"What's wrong with that?" Raven huffed.

"Nothing," Sinclair could be heard shuffling some papers around. "You are the most brilliant student I've ever taught. However, magic isn't quantifiable, there aren't iron clad rules. My grandfather explained it like trying to conquer an ocean. Magic is alive and wild. It makes our imaginations reality! Trying to tie it down with logic and complicated spell work is like trying to channel the ocean through a straw."

"But, it can be done!" Raven argued. "What are runes and arithmancy except for a logical method of channeling magic in a reliable way?"

"That's what we try and achieve in these fields, but Raven if the magic decides it doesn't want to cooperate it'll fail. There is a reason rune crafter's typically have short life spans. Magic has no limits, but we do."

"But, this could work!" Raven was clearly getting upset.

Clarke stepped around so that she was leaning against the door jam and made eye contact with the frustrated Sinclair. He smiled wanly at her.

"It could, but I insist you test with full supervision." He sighed when Raven huffed. "For now, it looks like you have a quidditch game to get to." He nodded towards Clarke.

"Fine," Raven sullenly replied. She grabbed the rolls of parchment she had been going over with Sinclair. Stuffing them into her satchel, she stalked out of the room. Clarke followed amused by her friend.

"So, which project was Sinclair stalling then?" She asked curiously.

"My portable wards. Like I don't know that if they are overloaded or disrupted they'll explode." She scoffed. "The calculations are perfect they'll definitely work."

"Those were promising, how large of an area would they affect?" Clarke asked curiously, already calculating uses for them.

"That needs to be adjusted, they're outward shape isn't completely stable yet which is why I need to test them more rigorously." Raven threw her hands in the air in frustration. "But no, I have to find at least three rune weavers to observe my work and approve it first. And, you know one of them will steal the idea since I'm a 'lowly' mudblood." She snarled in frustration.

"Hey, none of that!" Clarke reprimanded, she hated watching her friend struggle to be taken seriously and to keep her inventions her own. "Why can't we put them in my name till your out of school and then change the paperwork?"

Raven rolled her eyes, "Because, you may be smart Griffin but you don't have a clue on advanced runes or arithmancy. Nobody would believe they were your designs and they wouldn't be approved."

"Fair point," Clarke conceded. She was far better at more practical magic and potions. "Do you get to choose the rune weavers?"

They both jumped over the trick step before continuing to follow their fellow stragglers to the game. The halls were colorful. Clarke sighed before pulling Raven to the side. "Before you answer that could you please help me paint my face with my house colors?" She held up to two jars of paint.

"Quidditch pride from you?" Raven asked in surprise.

"Dax is up to something, he's been more aggressive and trying to rile up the younger years. I need all the inner house support I can get, so paint." Clarke sighed, she hated dealing with school yard bullies, in some ways they were harder to curb than adults.

"Got it, close your eyes Grif." Raven sounded particularly gleeful as she slapped a cold glob of paint on her friend. "So anyways," Raven continued while slathering paint over Clarke's face. "I can request specific rune weavers but that's not a guarantee they'll show up. Sinclair will be there but that still leaves two spots I'd need filled."

Clarke attempted to keep her face still so she didn't mess up the paint. "I could always make the requests for you. My political position should make them think twice about not showing up or stealing your idea. I will be sponsoring you. Speaking of which, Sterling found a property for us in Diagon Alley. It's a used bookstore, it shares a wall with the Leaky Cauldron. Ideal location really. Two stories, it'll be a bit cramped but I think I know a good cover for it."

"I don't see how this is related to my problems but go on." Raven pulled out her wand casting a heating spell on Clarke's face that helped the paint dry.

The two girls continued out of the castle. "For this first property at least it'll be in my name. Since I'm sponsoring you, you can open a shop in the first floor and we'll use the second floor for other pursuits." Clarke said cautiously mindful that others could possibly be eavesdropping.

"Holy shit, you want me to open a shop in the Alley immediately after graduation!" Raven gaped at her.

"I do." Clarke nodded. "We both know you're good enough. Between the J.E.M.S. and the various enchanted muggle tech you have we can force through enough patents for you to get a start. You'll probably want to share the space with Monty and Jasper's new potions. I'm sure Bellamy's group can come up with a business to start in Hogsmeade to help us get footholds there as well."

As they climbed the spindly stairs up to the stands Raven was oddly quiet. She stopped Clarke with a hand on her arm. Eyeing her seriously, Clarke realized something was up. "Clarke, I need to know something. Are you giving me this opportunity just to forward the rebellion? It seems like too much too soon. I haven't even proved that my ideas will work yet."

Clarke wasn't stupid she could sense the hurt behind the question. She pulled Raven into a hug. "Never! You're my friend, probably the best one I have. I would have done this for you anyway, this just means I can cast two spells with one wave. Besides, allowing brilliant muggleborns like you to reach your potential is why we are fighting this rebellion in the first place."

Raven squeezed her back tightly. "Good, cause I'm your bestest broom in a closet full of brooms."

Clarke laughed pulling away pleased to see the lightness return to Raven's features. "Of course. Now let's go cheer for my house while they get crushed."

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

Clarke rolled her eyes as Bellamy flew around the pitch cocky as hell flexing his arms for the girls. There were cheers as the Gryffindor's showed off their biceps and forearms with their tattoos. They were clearly drinking up the hoots and hollers as they circled the pitch, their new sleeveless robes rippling in the wind. The Slytherin team was glaring at the other team darkly and Clarke groaned.

"What's wrong princess?" Raven asked nudging her.

Clarke gestured to the Slytherin team, "It's going to be a violent game."

Feeling a shoulder bump into her from the other side, Clarke smirked at Fox's mischievous smile from where she was standing next to Thalia. "I got a pin for you!"

Clarke sighed as she watched Fox attaching a protection knot pin to the front of her robes. "They were handing out these good luck charms to the Gryf team and I thought we should have some luck on our side as well so I swiped some." She winked.

Ontari, who was standing behind them in her newly green robes, tapped Fox on the shoulder. "Do you have another one of those?"

Thalia handed one over to the girl. "Only because I want us to win."

"House first." Ontari replied pinning the knot to her robes.

"You bring one of these magic knot things for me?" Raven asked sticking her hand out towards Fox.

"Of course! Only if you're cheering for Slytherin though, can't be giving any luck to our enemies." Fox joked keeping the knot pin just out of reach of Raven.

Raven scoffed. "Of course I'm rooting for Slytherin and not those muscle heads."

"Excellent!" Fox set the knot into Raven's hand.

Clarke watched in disbelief as she saw the knots infecting the green and silver section of the stands at a rate that was unbelievable. She swore to never doubt Roma's words on fashion and trends ever again.

The game was every bit as violent as Clarke had expected. She found herself on the edge of her seat despite her general disinterest in the game. Cringing, she watched Octavia whack a bludger into the one of the Slytherin chaser's gut knocking him from his broom. Five minutes later and an illegal tackle occurred sending Octavia spinning into the stands almost crashing into some of the wooden beams the stands sat on.

Retaliation came in the form of several Gryffindor chasers dog piling the opposing team's front chaser. It devolved from there to flat out punches and kicks between chasers. The beaters were vicious in their aiming of the bludgers. Clarke breathed a sigh of relief when the seekers took off after the snitch.

Harper and Semmet, the Slytherin seeker, flew, bodies close to their brooms climbing up till they were red and green blurs high above the stands. And then they were hurtling down to the ground. Clarke could feel her heart in her throat in panic about what would happen if they didn't pull up in time. The two were elbowing each other and fighting over who was in the lead.

The stands were on their feet cheering for their seekers! Gryffindor was in the lead by twenty points and the snitch would decide the match, as always Clarke uncharitably thought. The beaters were preparing to start battering the seekers as they came falling down back into their range. Both seekers banked up and to the right shoving each other with their elbows before Harper seemed to get just that much further ahead and grabbed the snitch. The red and gold sections of the stands exploded into cheers and whistles. Clarke's own part of the stands filled with boos and jeers.

She had to give the sport enough credit to admit it could be exciting. She booed along with her house, enjoying the comradery. Glancing to the side, she saw the smug expression on Raven's face. "Don't like quidditch at all there do you princess?"

"Shut up," Clarke said shoulder bumping Raven before going back to her booing.

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

Clarke flexed her ink stained fingers before picking up her quill again and continuing to work on her transfiguration essay that was due on Monday. The medical wing was a surprisingly nice place to study. Currently, it was empty after the initial rush due to the quidditch match. Most of the school was off either celebrating or mourning the results of the most recent match. She checked to make sure her hangover cures were stewing properly before starting her incredibly dull essay. She would have done it a week ago when it was first assigned but she'd been incredibly busy with the rebellion and studying for her NEWTS. Not to mention organizing her break around the expected social engagements, business engagements, and time for her own pursuits.

"Ah, Griffin you're working late." The kind voice of Jackson sounded as he exited his office.

Clarke smiled looking up from her essay. "Quidditch makes studying in the common room a bit difficult."

Jackson chuckled while setting his locking charms on his office. "I remember some particularly rambunctious parties when I played."

"I didn't know you played?" She was actually curious about how a gentle even-tempered man like Jackson was able to play such a violent sport.

"I dabbled," Sitting down across from her, he sighed. "I've been meaning to talk to you actually. I've noticed some of the less regulated potions have been disappearing when you're on shift."

Clarke felt her muscles tightening as she forced herself to remain calm. "That's concerning. Do you know who is responsible?"

"Clarke," He looked at her exasperated. "I know you've been treating the muggleborns for things they wouldn't normally come to us for."

Clarke swallowed nervously. "I don't know what you're talking about. You must be mistaken."

"I think it's a good thing, we're healers sworn to heal anyone who needs it regardless of our personal beliefs. If they trust you, then keep taking care of them. You're doing a a good job kid. I'll be sad to lose you when you graduate." He stood and patted her on the shoulder.

Clarke measured him carefully. "Maybe you won't have to lose me when I graduate sir."

Jackson looked surprised, "You'll be more than qualified to take a position at St. Mungo's after you graduate."

This was delicate and she knew now wasn't the time to recruit him but he seemed like a promising candidate for the rebellion and an incredibly valuable one if he joined. "I'd like to think we're friends by now Healer Jackson." She smiled warmly at him.

He seemed to relax slightly, "I'd like to think that too. Good night, Miss. Griffin."

"Night," She watched him leave the medical wing and tapped the end of her quill against her mouth. She was relieved that she didn't have to continue hiding things from Jackson. He had been a good teacher for her and she had not enjoyed taking advantage of her place in his infirmary without his knowledge.

She was broken away from her essay again some time later by the sound of a rapping on the open door of the room. Looking up, she saw Bellamy standing in the doorway his left eye swollen shut still in his quidditch robes. Shutting her books, she walked over while waving him over.

"What can I do for you this evening Mr. Blake." She asked pulling out her wand.

"Mr. Blake?" He winced as his face tried to scrunch up in confusion. "I could use a pain relieving potion and a couple of teeth regrown."

Of course, Bellamy would celebrate his win before getting medical care unlike half the players who had already come in for treatment. It didn't take long to grab the Skelegrow and the pain relieving potion. "You couldn't have come in any earlier when the rest of your team came in could you?"

He grinned. "Had to get the food for the party."

"I'm surprised you aren't enjoying the fruits of your labor with some girl of the month." She said while handing the Skelegrow over after it had been carefully measured out.

"Me? Fool around? I'm hurt!" He mocked with a wink. Downing the shot of the foul stuff, he gagged slightly. "Besides, I have a date over break with Gina, the shop girl at Honeydukes. I'd rather not have to come to you to regrow my balls thank you very much."

Clarke snorted. "That would be a risk, I remember her from school last year. Good luck with that. No eating or drinking for the next couple hours and you're going to be stuck here for an hour before those teeth finish growing in. You can have the pain relief potion after that."

"Thanks." He leaned back on the bed looking thoughtful. "You're a girl, should I bring her flowers?"

"You have far more experience dating than I do Blake. Why don't you tell me?" She sat back down with her essay.

"Those were just hook ups, which are great. But, I really like this girl." He looked at her clearly asking for help.

Taking a quick breath, she considered his question. "Mind you I don't know Gina well, but most girls like flowers and even if it comes off as overeager that can be endearing in its own way."

"You're surprisingly unhelpful." He snarked.

"You could always ask your sister." Clarke suggested dipping her quill in the ink pot.

Bellamy laughed, "Yeah, no. She'd tell me to dye my hair pink to impress her."

"That sounds like her," Clarke remarked, while adding to a paragraph on the conjuration of lead.

"She's all I have you know." He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

Clarke smiled fondly at Bellamy. "I know, and I know it's a year too late but I'm sorry about your mother."

Bellamy shifted. "She wasn't really a part of our life after we started at Hogwarts. She just checked out."

"She loved you though, no matter what people say," Clarke said softly.

"You really know far too much Griffin." He shook his head. "I just, god we're the children of a prostitute. I could have dropped out, gotten a job, supported us some other way. She didn't have to continue doing something that pushed her to such unhealthy habits and an early death."

"She wanted the best for you." Clarke bit the end of her quill in thought. "Being a squib left her stuck between two worlds and in neither world was she was given a chance to succeed. We'll change that though."

"Do you ever stop?" He asked curiously.

"Stop what?" She asked.

"Just, I don't know being," He waved his hand at her. "Like all perfect and everything?"

Clarke snorted. "Merlin that's not true. I am capable of being quite vindictive I'll have you know. Also, though I hate to admit, if it wasn't for my father I could very well have been one of those bigots you so hate."

Bellamy shivered theatrically, "Don't even talk about that."

"Also, I'm rather single minded, I don't know if you've noticed?" She smiled at seeing his amusement on that one.

"Haven't noticed that at all princess, single minded, you?" He snorted. "Ow." He touched his jaw gingerly. "Is it supposed to feel this awful?"

"Sadly yes, re-growing bones isn't all fun and games. Just don't ask what's in the potion."

"What's in the potion Clarke?" He asked worriedly.

She grinned, watching his face knowing he wasn't going to like the answer. "Newt poop for one. Surprisingly, gryffin piss as well."

He retched in disgust, "Why are potions always so foul!?"

"Because they aren't designed for palatability." She replied.

"You're taking far too much joy in this aren't you?" He asked suspiciously.

"Told you I could be vindictive." She shrugged.

"What did I ever do to you?"

"Do you really have to ask?"

He mumbled several foul words under his breath. "Have you ever played muggle poker?"

Interested by the change in topic, she cocked her head. "No, why?"

"I'm going to teach you, you'd clean up." He seemed to be rather excited about the prospect.

"Gambling then?"

"Yup, no one would be able to tell when you were bluffing!"

Bellamy winced looking down at his bracelet, "What?"

Clarke pulled out her watch and looked at the back. There in neat letters was the message, "You looked beautiful today. P."

Clarke looked over at Bellamy, "Who the hell?"

Bellamy shrugged, "I have no idea."

Both of their J.E.M.S. went off again as another message came through. 'Not as handsome as you. T.'

"People are not sending love notes to each other on these, this is a horrible hallucination right?" Clarke stared at her watch in horror.

"I know who it is," Bellamy laughed. "Trina and Pascal the love birds."

"This isn't funny." She snapped at him. "What if someone needed to get an actual message through?"

"Relax princess, I'll talk with them at breakfast tomorrow." He poked at his jaw again. "Can I please have that pain relieving potion now?"

"No, just suck it up tough guy," she said with a wicked grin, "you only had a tiny dose of Skelegrow, it's not that bad." Clarke rolled her eyes, feeling like her watch had personally insulted her as a third message of 'hugs and kisses,' came through.


	16. Chapter 16

Pulling out a notepad, Bellamy wrote down his latest discoveries about the Room of Requirement before laying down the notepad and leaving the room. He closed the door to the room of requirements with a sigh of regret. He was fairly certain he had another of its limits figured out, but he wasn't confident about that yet. Still he had made a lot of progress and it was time to report to Clarke to get a second opinion. Concentrating he focused on the message he wanted to transfigure onto the metal. A slight surge of heat where it touched his fingers let him know he had been successful. Opening his eyes, he saw his message engraved in the metal, ' _Clarke, location? ROR info. BB_ ' It was short and to the point.

They'd agreed on the shorthand after the Trina and Pascal debacle. He was fairly certain the lovebirds were still getting death glares from Clarke whenever she saw them. The agreed system went; name of person you were trying to contact, message, initials of sender. It was short and the others were agreeable to it.

It didn't take long for his bracelet to heat up as the words shimmered out of existence and new one's appeared in their place. ' _Blake, library. Bring coffee or die. CG.'_ Frowning slightly at the message hoping that whoever had pissed off the princess wasn't one of them he headed down to the kitchens. Why she was in the library and demanding coffee the last night before break, even though finals were over, he didn't know. But what the princess wanted she got if possible. He was only just hitting the main floor when he was waved over by Octavia.

"Bro! I have what you're looking for." She was grinning as she walked over to him holding a steaming mug of coffee.

"You're a lifesaver, what do you want?" He looked at her suspiciously.

"The Monroe family Christmas party." She replied keeping a grip on the mug.

Narrowing his eyes, he considered. "Why?"

"Because you're lame and leaving me at Hogwarts on my own for break. So I want out for the party." She glared, it was a recurring argument with them since he'd decided he needed to recruit over break.

"O, we've been over this I need you to be in charge at school while I'm out." He didn't like denying his sister anything but recruiting was dangerous and he wouldn't risk her.

She rolled her eyes dramatically. "The party and you get hot coffee to the princess before she gets annoyed enough to burn your bollocks off."

"Fine," He groaned, it was just one night, she couldn't get into too much trouble right?

"You're the best!" She grinned and kissed him on the cheek before handing him the coffee.

"And don't you forget it!" He hollered over his shoulder as he made his way up to the library.

Sneaking in with the coffee without the librarian noticing involved shifting his arm so that the mug was halfway up his robes sleeve. Feeling rather proud of his success at getting round the woman he headed for the corner he knew Clarke liked to hole up in. He found her surrounded by parchment, and books towered precariously on every available surface.

He was just about to set down the mug of coffee in front of the oblivious girl when he realized he couldn't hear any of the ambient sounds of the library. "Do you usually put privacy wards up when you study?"

Clarke startled slightly looking up at him. Her attention snapped to the coffee. She grabbed it from his hands bringing it to her chest and just breathing it in for a moment. "No, but I didn't want to be disturbed tonight." She sipped at coffee and seemed to let tension bleed out of her.

"Are you alright?" He asked taking in the circles under her eyes and how her hair looked like it hadn't seen a brush for a while. Actually, it was the single most out of it he'd ever seen her, there were wrinkles in her collar.

She made a guttural groaning sound. "I just have so much to study."

"Why? Finals are over?" He was honestly confused by this version of Clarke.

"NEWTS, I have to pass them with an E or O." She explained like he was an idiot.

He frowned, "But we don't take them till the end of the year, surely you can give yourself a break."

"You get to take yours at the end of the school year, I'm taking mine next week." She took a long draw from the mug of coffee.

"WHY?!" He exclaimed sitting down across from her.

"Because I'm taking my seat on the Wizengamot before break ends and members are required to hold four NEWTS. So I'm taking five of mine." She waved her hand, "Anyways, you said you had news on the Room of Requirements?"

"What? No, that can wait. Why didn't you say anything?"

"I assumed you knew that I would have to take my NEWTS to gain my seat, which was silly. It's really only common knowledge with purebloods." She tilted her head in thought before seeming to shake herself out of her thoughts. "So, what was the information you wanted to share?"

He tried to say something and his jaw just opened and closed a few times. Shaking his head, he decided to ignore the fact that apparently she was taking her NEWTS early, which was just…..he wasn't going to think about it. "Do you actually want the update on the room or do you want to wait till we meet up over break?"

Clarke blinked at him. "Are any of your discoveries pressing?"

"The Room of Requirements is the most amazing thing I have ever seen! The possibilities are incredible, but it can wait till you don't look like death." He was a bit disappointed actually that she wasn't as excited as he was.

"Have you found any of its limits?" She asked, a slight gleam of excitement entering her eyes before the books around her caught her eyes and she groaned.

"Some of them, but I doubt any one person could discover all that room has to hold." He was in awe of it frankly.

She rubbed her eyes and seemed lost in thought for a minute. "Can you brief Raven before you leave tomorrow?"

"You think she'll explore it more over break?" He asked.

"Yeah, and if not she'll at least make use of it while she's here." Clarke shrugged.

"Do you need anything?" Bellamy was concerned about his friend, and when had that happened? When had he become friends with the pureblood interloper? He supposed it had snuck up on him but he couldn't say he regretted it.

Her eyes went a bit vacant before she replied. "No, my elf will make sure I leave before curfew."

"Of course, you have an elf." He groaned.

"I have three elves sworn to my house and a personal elf." She explained like it was nothing.

"How? Just...no, never mind. Are you good here then?"

"Hmm... yes. Go, have a nice break Blake. I have studying to do." She smiled at him wryly.

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

"This better be good Blake, I have a party to get to." Raven grumbled from her place in front of the entrance to the Ravenclaw tower.

"Oh it's good," He grinned.

"How good?" She crossed her arms watching him dubiously.

"The Room of Requirements." He answered smugly.

"That's a legend." She said.

"Nope, it's very real, I've been exploring it for a while now." He was enjoying watching the disbelief on her face.

"Very funny Blake. What are you here for really?" She cocked an eyebrow in question.

"Clarke has had me testing the limits to the Room of Requirements and since she's apparently insane and taking her NEWTS early, she wants you to double check my work." He replied, it was satisfying to see her realize he was serious.

"You really found it!?" She exclaimed starting forward.

"Apparently Finn did and he told Clarke, who then ordered me to find its limits." He grinned at her obvious excitement but felt his grin falter at the subtle shift in her face at the mention of Finn.

"Of course he did." She bit out. "But you are taking me to that room right now." She recovered grabbing the arm of his robe and hauling him down the circular staircase that led from Ravenclaw tower.

Many staircases and excited questions later and they were standing in front of the truly ridiculous tapestry of trolls learning to dance. Bellamy turned smiling widely as he started to pace back and forth in front of the tapestry. Once the door had formed out of the wall, he came to a stop. The room behind the door was the one that he used to keep his notes on the room and lists of people to recruit safe. During the time he had been using this room, it had increasingly tailored itself to reflect his preferences in unexpected ways. He felt an unfamiliar sense of pride of ownership well up inside him as he anticipated sharing the room with someone who clearly understood its awesomeness.

"Holy shit." Raven breathed out excitedly pulling the door open, not even bothering with glancing at him. "This is really it isn't it?" He followed her into the study. It was amusing to watch Raven wander around the room touching paper and tables and the walls curiously and full of awe before finally turning around to face him.

"Of all the rooms in all the world you chose a Victorian study?" There was amusement in the way her eyes were crinkling around the edges.

"Hey, don't knock it." He walked over to his work desk. "I needed somewhere to keep all of this stuff safe and this is what the Room of Requirement provided." She rolled her eyes before starting to thumb through his notes. "You think the room exists in a pocket dimension?" She asked looking surprised.

Bellamy pointed out a series of measurements and diagrams he'd worked on early on in his exploration of the room. "When you open the room without focusing on a particular need or desire it seems to present a room used in the past that might meet your needs. Some of those rooms are too large even with enlargement charms to fit in the area the room takes up in the castle. There is a room of lost things that I found. It seemed to never end. When I tried measuring it, it seemed to loop like it was folding back on itself. Some sort of pocket dimension seems to be the only possible explanation."

"So, you think it's an enchantment opening bubbles in reality?" Raven pulled out his sheet of measurements. "How does the necessary transfiguration work then?"

Bellamy rubbed the back of his head, "I'm not sure, but there doesn't seem to be any limits outside of following Gamps five laws of elemental transfiguration. It doesn't have access to anything in the castle. For instance, I can't wish my personal notes from the tower to appear here." He chuckled. "I tried but I ended up with some kid named Oswald Oswin's notes from a hundred fifty years ago. I do know that it actually stores things. Things that are brought into the room from outside and left behind are available the next time that version of the room is opened."

"Is the room malleable after you've opened it?" she asked.

"No, its solid once you've formed it. Although I've noticed that when I leave the room and return to it, subtle or sometimes significant changes have been made to suit my preferences or needs. It's kind of spooky because sometimes I have thought about the changes I want and sometimes it just seems to know." He tapped his finger on a list of the rooms he'd found. "It remembers the rooms it's made too. Like the room of lost things, it already exists and other people have used it. If you're vague you can end up in a pre-existing room that meets your specifications. So, when I first made this room I had to be really specific in what I wanted, but now I just need to request my study."

"So, if I wanted to get back here all I'd have to do is want your study?" Raven was in awe.

"Yeah, and I still have only scratched the surface of what this room can do!"

"No shit, could it create runes or other components needed for enchantments? Or have you tested whether you can create a room where muggle technology works? Or a room where electricity is not disrupted by magic?" She paused to take a breath.

"Whoa," Bellamy interjected, "whenever anyone tries to get electricity and magic to interact it tends to result in explosions."

She looked at him like he was dumb. "If it's really a pocket dimension it should be contained."

"Should!?" He let out a strangled noise. Muggle jokes about mad scientists suddenly seemed far less amusing. He pulled back slightly looking at the slightly frightening manic quality that had taken shape on the girl's face. He really needed start being more cautious around anyone Clarke considered a friend. "How about we wait till Clarke gives the ok before we experiment with things that could flatten Hogwarts?" He prayed silently that Clarke was sane enough to put her foot down on this line of research.

Raven rolled her eyes. "Fine, but this room is mine starting tomorrow Blake."

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

The Gryffindor common room was full of noise as Bellamy sipped at his mug of spiked eggnog. The train was leaving with everyone going home for the holidays in the morning so they were having their Christmas/end of finals party. It was bothering him how Raven's face had shuttered closed at the mention of Finn. He was under the impression that Clarke got along with Finn. The guy had handed Clarke the Room of Requirements on a silver platter after all. Plus, he knew Clarke was making him one of the student organizers for the tutoring, but Raven's reaction hinted at something wrong. He nudged Roma who was sitting next to him.

"Hey, do you know if there is something between Raven and Finn?"

Roma snorted drawing the attention of several of their friends. "You could say that. Mind you I don't know much but there was a big to do about them fifth year."

Harper spoke up surprisingly. She wasn't usually one for gossip. "Jasper and Monty brought that up when we were working on potions."

Bellamy's face scrunched up as he noticed the clearly angry expression on Harper's face. "But what happened?"

Roma refilled his mug of eggnog with a wave of her wand, it didn't make him feel better. "Raven and Finn dated for like, forever. I'm not even sure when they got together. Then fifth year he goes and takes Clarke to Hogsmead and it's clear they're dating. I heard Raven slapped Clarke in the middle of the great hall. They both ended up dumping Finn and surprisingly have been best friends ever since. Not that anyone knows why. Although there were rumors of them trying to murder each other in potions class."

Harper spoke up. "Actually, Finn started dating Clarke over the summer and thought since she and Raven ran in different circles neither of them would catch on to the fact he was dating both of them. Clarke thought the best way to deal with the other girlfriend of her ex-boyfriend was to partner with her for potions till they became friends." Harper tilted her head to the side. "I'm fairly certain Clarke is mildly unhinged."

"Wait," Bellamy felt a bubble of anger in his gut. "He two timed them?"

"Yeah, even tried to get both of them back. Haven't you noticed he follows Clarke around like a puppy or something?" Roma asked.

"How is he not dead?" Miller asked in confusion. Most of their friends were listening in at this point.

Harper answered. "According to Jasper, it's a mystery for the ages. I think they both were really in love with him and were more hurt than angry." She was looking into her mug of eggnog darkly.

"But, why does Clarke put up with him continuing to harass her?" Bellamy asked exasperated.

"Because he's useful and she's a Slytherin through and through." Harper said. "She's not the type to burn bridges because of her personal feelings."

Bellamy shared a look with Miller, clearly the girls were insane. A glance at Monroe showed that she was plotting murder and he decided not all girls were insane. He jumped slightly when Octavia flopped down half on top of him.

"So, what's got my brother's panties in a knot?" She asked while ruffling his hair.

"He just found out Finn Collins two timed Clarke and Raven in fifth year and that he's been making a nuisance of himself ever since." Monroe spat out.

Octavia stilled for a second before speaking up again. "Right, so what are we doing to him?"

Bellamy grinned. "I like the way you think O. I'm all for throwing him off the astronomy tower." He muttered darkly. Miller nodded in approval of the idea.

"What about a shrinking charm?" Roma asked. The girls all seemed excited by the idea. A vicious part of Bellamy agreed with them even if it horrified him. Surprisingly, it was Harper who saved Finn from that fate.

"He'll be vulnerable on the train tomorrow." She suggested. "What's to say he doesn't have an accident that leaves him trapped in a compartment with some unpleasant surprises?"

"I still have some stink bombs," Monroe chipped in.

Roma hummed, "We could get some aggressive plants out of greenhouse three."

"We'd have to take his wand so he couldn't escape." Miller put in.

"We can't be too extreme Clarke would kill us." Bellamy considered the Hufflepuff chaser for a minute. "If it is a more targeted attack at his vanity she can't be too upset. We could cut his hair and make sure he can't grow it back. He's far too proud of it." He'd often seen the boy flicking his hair behind one ear clearly pleased with himself and he knew that targeting his hair would be a particularly low blow.

"We should dye it Slytherin and Ravenclaw colors so he knows why we've attacked him." Octavia said.

Bellamy glanced around at his friends and saw they agreed with the plan. Nodding in finality, he gave them their orders. "Monroe get a comb that's nice enough to be considered a gift from a secret admirer but not unique enough to be traceable. Miller enchant the comb so that it will change his hair color to a mix of greens and blues. Harper and Roma make a preservation potion to make the color changes persistent and hard to remove. Just make sure the enchantment and the preservation potion don't interfere with each other. We send the comb as a present from a secret admirer. He will have to get on the train so we know people will see him."

"Wait, can we still shrink his bits?" Octavia was bouncing slightly. "It's not like it's permanent and the jerk deserves it."

Bellamy cringed slightly. "Maybe he does, but it's not something we could do discretely and I think that may be taking things a bit far."

Nobody spoke up so he raised his mug of eggnog. "To giving Finn hell!"

If the rest of the common room looked at their small pow wow with suspicion well that wasn't his problem.

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

The plan went like clockwork. Finn got the comb and was flattered by the attention. He used the comb that morning while in a rush to make it to the dining hall for breakfast before doing some last minute packing for the train. He walked into the dining hall oblivious that his hair was now multiple shades of bright green and blue. He didn't realize anything was up until some of his fellow Hufflepuffs started laughing. The J.E.M.S. had been used to share some biting commentary between the members of the rebellion. Bellamy chose to let this particular infraction of using the J.E.M.S. in an unprofessional manner go, though Clarke appeared annoyed with the whole affair. Bellamy figured that the only reason they hadn't received a lecture on keeping their noses out of other people's business and irresponsible behavior was because Clarke was so focused on studying for her NEWTS. Raven however, seemed to think that the whole situation was hilarious.

Everyone got a second chance to mock Finn and marvel at their efforts when he came out to get on the train. Finn had tried to cover his hair with a newsboy cap borrowed from one of his muggleborn dorm mates. However, someone had banished the cap before he managed to get on the train, it wasn't even someone who was in on the prank. His efforts to hide it made his discomfort with the prank obvious and they all gloried in their success.

After giving one last glance at Finn, his face crinkling with amusement, Bellamy entered a compartment with Roma, Miller, Monroe, Sterling, and Octavia. "That went surprisingly smoothly." Roma stated as she stretched out in her seat trying to get comfortable for the journey to King's Cross Station.

"It did go pretty well. We didn't expect that he would come to breakfast with his hair like that. I guess sometimes things go better than you planned them." Bellamy said with a chuckle. Turning to Octavia, he addressed her, "Octavia we have to hurry if we want to get you off the train before it leaves." Bellamy stepped out into the hallway, Octavia on his heels as they made their way to the back exit of the train. Once back on the platform, he faced his sister with a gleam in his eyes. "Take care alright?"

Octavia stepped forward and wrapped him in a tight hug. "You, too, you big ass. I'll see you at Christmas."

He breathed her in holding her a bit too tight. "Of course."

Bellamy set his suitcase down on the foot of the bed in what would be his room for the entirety of break. He glanced around at the room. It was furnished with a large bed and an ancient looking wardrobe and a large mirror were across from it. It wasn't much, and like most of the Leaky Cauldron it had a sense of age and being past its prime. He was sure in its heyday the colors had been vibrant but now they were dim and dusty with age. It was strange to be a patron and not a worker at a place like this. Clarke had just rolled her eyes and handed him a dozen galleons when he'd complained about how he wasn't sure the Cauldron would hire him for break.

It still baffled him how free she was with money. Ordinarily, he wouldn't have accepted but he was doing rebellion business and practicality won out over pride. Walking over to the window, he looked out on the alley where people were flittering about doing their Christmas shopping.

It didn't take long to change out of his school robes and into a nondescript grey robe and head down to get dinner. He slid into a booth across from a scrawny patron with greasy hair. "Murphy."

"Blake, want to tell me about that business venture you wrote about?" The squib dipped his spoon in what looked like pea soup.

"Well, let's just say I have a patron who needs some less reputable business contacts." They both went quiet as a bowl of the fairly unappealing soup was placed in front of Bellamy.

Once they were alone again, Murphy spoke up. "Not like you to keep your cards close to your vest, what aren't you telling me?" He looked at him suspiciously.

Bellamy darted his eyes around making sure no one was listening in or watching. Reaching into his robe, he pulled a small sack of coins out and pushed them across the table to Murphy. "A starting investment. That should be enough for six blood quills with interest."

Murphy eyed him before slipping the pouch into his robes. "Well Blake, you just got more interesting."

"Thanks." He snarked. "I have a room here I'll be staying in for the break. Just owl me when you've got them. We can meet there next time."

Murphy tapped his spoon on the edge of his bowl. "I hope you know what you're getting into Blake."

Bellamy pulled himself up. "I know what I'm getting into. Don't waste your time worrying about me."

Murphy, "Well, I guess I'll be seeing you soon then."


	17. Chapter 17

Clarke's quill scratched across the parchment in front of her. The annoying sound it was making had been driving her crazy since she'd started that morning. Alas, quills were provided for students taking their NEWTS to prevent charms being cast on them or other tampering. It was her third day of making the trip into the ministry for these exams and she swore her hand was going to fall off from cramping at this point.

She'd taken her written and practical exams for potions and charms the first day then history of magic and astronomy the next. By the time she'd gotten home yesterday she'd been cursing her stupid pride after taking her two worst subjects she was testing on back to back. If she passed astronomy, it would be a miracle. Honestly, she should have just taken four exams and not been overly ambitious. But no, she had to show off. The pounding in her head and ache in her hand were reminder enough that it had been a terrible idea.

The ticking of the clock echoed around her as she filled in the answer to the last question on her Defense Against the Dark Arts exam. With a sigh she sat back and stared at the lengthy exam she'd just finished. Stretching her fingers out she looked up at the examiner. At least she was confident she'd passed this test, or at least the written section of it.

"Done already Ms. Griffin?" The examiner asked.

"Yes, thank you for agreeing to monitor my exam." She stated while standing and bringing her exam forward and setting it on the man's desk.

"Are you prepared for your practical exam or would you like to take a brief break first?" He asked kindly.

"If it's acceptable with you, I'd like to finish the exam." She said respectfully.

"Of course, if I could examine your wand. A regretful formality, you understand." He said while standing up.

She pulled her wand out of the inner pocket on the inside of her red robes and handed it over gently.

He swished it letting out a simple levitation charm on his desk before returning it easily. "Everything's in order. Lovely wand, I expect you'll be quite the surprising witch. Those with vine wands always are." He smiled kindly.

"I can only hope so." She replied letting the familiar wood slide into her preferred grip.

"Well then, let's begin shall we. If you wouldn't mind demonstrating five methods of disarmament on that dummy there, that would be excellent."

Clarke felt a grin spread across her face as she sent a silent 'expelliarmus' at the wooden manikin. This was something she was good at doing. The feeling of magic buzzed in her veins. She had many spells imprinted on her mind from repeated use that fit the task. She followed the standard disarming spell with a targeted variation of the banishing hex. A quick twist of her wrist and a whip made of vines hurled out of her wand wrapping around the manikin arm. A slash and a cutting hex sliced off the manikin hand. Finally, with a sharp jab she summoned the still falling piece of wood into her empty and waiting hand.

"Excellently done Ms. Griffin!" The examiner exclaimed while making a note on a clipboard he'd picked up before she began. "Now if you could perform a patronus for me."

Clarke closed her eyes briefly pulling up a memory of her father and her playing tag. He'd caught her and spun her round in his arms while they laughed. Opening her eyes again, she watched as light bloomed from the end of her wand as her lion erupted from it. He roared silently shaking his mane before pacing around the room in search of a threat.

"I shouldn't be surprised that your form is that of a lion. The examiner laughed while marking some more on his clipboard.

"I followed in my family's footsteps in some ways even if I ended up in a different house." Clarke said while letting her lion fade away.

"Indeed." He smiled. "Next if you would please…"

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

Clarke felt like humming as she exited the elevator and came out into the atrium. The room practically sparkled, the stones polished till they shone. Walking briskly past the disgusting fountain, she made her way to the fireplaces. She smiled in greeting to a few acquaintances of her family. Astronomy may be a bust, but DADA had certainly not been. Not feeling like spoiling her mood, she skipped going to see her godfather, Jaha, in his office while she was there and grabbed a handful of floo powder.

Throwing it into the wide fireplace, she called out, "Ark Manor." Stepping into the green fire, she let herself be whisked away by the familiar sensation stepping easily out of the formal fireplace. A soft pop caught her attention and she turned to see Gus one of the family elves standing at attention.

"Welcome home mistress. Will you be wanting anything?" He asked.

She smiled softly at the elf. He was wearing the red velvet pillow case with the family crest emblazed above his heart. The greying wisps of hair that stuck out at random from his ears as clean as always. "No, thank you, Gus. Lady Cartwig will be joining me for a late lunch in the study today. See that her favorite is prepared for the meal."

"Yes, mistress." He popped away as soon as he finished speaking. No doubt to go and inform the other elves of what was expected for lunch.

Noting the time, she made her way towards her room. Once she had the door closed, she sighed and threw off her formal red robes, leaving her in the rather dated muggle clothing she preferred. Bellamy could laugh all he wanted, cargo pants were fabulous and those muggle sequins made excellent materials to sew runes on her pants with. She was quite proud of her pants. She'd gotten a bit carried away once she'd realized sequins could be used to make runes. They were as close to indestructible as clothing could get thanks to those sequins. And the pockets! So many pockets!

"Tris!" She summoned, after casting a couple of low powered privacy spells on her door.

"Yes, mistress?" Tris asked appearing with a soft pop on top of her bed. The elf bounced twice before landing on the floor.

"You know the stationary I talked to you about?" She asked while flopping into the squishy red armchair in the corner of her room.

"Of course, with the knot design embossed on the corners?" Tris asked, while wiggling her toes in the soft carpeting.

"Yes, that one. Would you mind ordering enough sets of it for all of the rebellion members? Not a full stationery kit mind you, just the paper, except for Bellamy and my friends from prior to the rebellion." She said, while thinking of what on earth she was going to get for Monty this year, she was still undecided.

"I'd be happy to Mistress Clarke. Would you be liking me to use the family vault or your trust vault?" The elf asked.

"Family vault, and pick yourself up some chocolate while you're out." She smiled at the wide eyed look of glee on the elf's face. It was a small thing and something she enjoyed doing often. The treatment of elves was truly awful.

"Thank you, mistress! I'll be getting that all done real quick!" She exclaimed before disappearing with a pop.

Flicking her wand, she brought down the privacy wards and closed her eyes. She had time for a short nap. Cartwig wouldn't be arriving till two, she had an hour before she'd need to wake and Gus would wake her. With a sigh, she drifted off in her squishy chair enjoying the crackling of the fireplace in her room and its warmth.

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

Two came far too soon, as far as Clarke was concerned, as she washed her face in a cool basin of water trying to wake herself up properly. Straightening she walked back into her room scooping up her formal robes and pulling them on as she headed out into the hall.

Ark Manor was the family home and had been for several generations now. By pureblood standards, it was positively modern. It was a colorful house that made up for its lack of history by displaying the family history throughout. Portraits of her various ancestors lined the rooms, tapestries of accomplishments some had made gave the halls a sense of age. There were a lot of browns, reds, and golds woven throughout the house.

Coming to the study, she opened the oak door and smiled at the sight of the lunch she'd requested laid out on the side table. She needed to prepare the room for when Cartwig arrived. She cast a few high powered but discreet privacy charms. The meeting would involve things she did not want her mother, or anyone really, finding out.

Now that Clarke did not have her NEWTS to distract her, she was nervous about the upcoming meeting. This meeting was key to her future plans with the rebellion. She would need Cartwig's support in the Wizengamot if she wanted to have the pull to start a political take over. Though Callie was an old family friend and had supported her father's plans to revolutionize the wizarding world, she did not have the same relationship with her that her father had. Callie had little reason to trust in her political acumen and no doubt still saw her as the precocious child she had been when her father was alive and their families were still close. Clarke would also be discussing some sensitive issues with her and though the fact that Cartwig would be putting herself in grave danger if she revealed any of Clarke's accusations reassured her, it still made her nervous.

Not long after setting up the privacy charms, one of the elves popped in to inform her that Callie had arrived. Clarke quickly made her way to the entryway to let Cartwig in and escort her to the study.

"Please, take your seat Lady Cartwig. I had lunch prepared for us." Clarke began, trying not to let her nerves show.

"Clarke!" Callie turned round and quickly pulled her into a hug. "None of those formalities with me young lady." She gently rebuked while pulling back.

"Sorry, Callie," Clarke laughed while sitting down at the table.

"I was surprised you invited me here, it's been a while." Callie said while taking the seat across from Clarke. "Although, I see you still remember I have a weak spot for grilled cheese and tomato soup."

"I could never forget that, just because you and Abby had a falling out doesn't mean I've forgotten." Clarke said.

Callie sighed, "You're not going to try and get your mother and I talking again are you?"

"Hardly," Clarke took a bite of her sandwich. "You and Abby fell out for the wrong reasons."

Startled, Callie frowned, "What are you talking about Clarke?"

"You and Abby broke off after your two parties split on the French diplomatic relations." Clarke replied. "However, supporting the policies of the French, while abhorrent isn't why your friendship should have ended." She took a sip from her glass of water.

"Abby and I are still friends, we just don't agree on everything." Callie said.

"Please, we both know the French are the largest dealers in magical animals and creatures. You and the other Purists split from the Traditionalists, deciding that the political support of the French wasn't worth the slaughter and harvesting of sentient non-humans. My mother is all too glad to profit off those she sees as sub-human." Clarke replied matter of factly. "Not to mention you and Abby haven't spoken privately in over five years."

Callie breathed out heavily. "You're right, but Clarke, you're my goddaughter. Just because your mother and I don't see eye to eye doesn't change that."

"I'm not upset that you and Abby don't talk. She's committed far worse crimes than supporting the French. I'm sure you're aware of the old alliance between Jaha, Kane and my mother." Clarke replied.

"Yes, but Clarke what crimes?" Callie frowned.

Clarke leaned back in her chair. "I'm referring to the three of them conspiring to commit murder against various thorns in their political sides including my father."

Callie choked. "What!"

"You were a close ally of my father politically before Jaha became minister. Tell me, would my father's policies have followed the course Jaha has taken?" She raised an eyebrow inquiringly.

"Of course not, but the werewolf attacks forced more conservative policies in place. That doesn't mean they killed him!" Callie said outraged.

"True," Clarke took another sip of water. "Don't you find it curious that it was just five months after my father announced his reformed platform that werewolf attacks started happening? Think about how eerily similar they are to the werewolf attacks that ended the Trikru rebellion. I mean it's quite a coincidence that both of the political upheavals in the last three decades have involved leaders of the reformists being killed by werewolves."

Callie frowned. "That's insane, and the use of the wolves against the Trikru family and their allies led to reform so it couldn't happen again. Werewolves' are all allotted wolfsbane through St. Mungos every full moon. Comparing that to the isolated attacks when your father was killed is crazy."

"That's what I thought." Clarke responded. "Till I found that my mother volunteered to start working in the werewolf wing of the hospital three months after father announced his platform. That and I found the withdrawal of two hundred galleons from the family vault two days before his attack. There was another withdrawal of two hundred galleons the day after. Then my mother takes the family seat in the Wizengamot and reverses every action my father ever supported."

"That's….that's not proof." Callie breathed, though Clarke could see that she was listening, really listening now.

"Of course not, but it's part of the proof. I find it interesting that the French produced an addictive version of wolfsbane shortly after the reforms went into place. Also, that the key ingredient in the addictive version was added blood silk. It is quite apparent that the government is using the addictive properties of wolfsbane and the werewolves' need for it to control them. Especially since some of the most important ingredients to making wolfsbane were subsequently added to the Ministries restricted ingredient list." Clarke could feel her voice shaking and paused to recover her equilibrium.

"My mother signed an order form requesting twice the necessary amount of blood silk to be ordered by the hospital coinciding with the six months during which wolf attacks occurred every full moon. Then as soon as the wolf attacks stop, eighteen werewolves are recorded as having died of an illegal overdose of wolfsbane. It clearly tied up the loose ends and eliminated those who knew about their plot. I followed the paper trail and Kane's import business is where the blood silk necessary was ordered. A month after, Jaha takes the minister's seat and Abby donated my family castle to the French for their embassy." Clarke clasped her hands in her lap, they were shaking with repressed rage.

"How...why do you know all of this?" Callie asked.

"Wells figured it out." Clarke laughed bitterly. "I didn't want to believe him but he was right. His family elf Tris overheard several meetings between Abby, Kane, and Jaha around the topic of taking care of my father. They feared he would ruin them, letting new blood into the process, compromising their wealth and power."

"There has to be another explanation. I mean I work with Kane! He's not capable of committing the crimes you're talking about." She protested.

"He is, and worse. You're on the Wizengamot Callie, how many laws and cases have you seen or even voted for that led to innocents dying for power?" She leveled a glare at the woman. "Do you think I'm so naive as to be unaware of the bribery going on at every level of the Ministry? Those muggleborns who spat on some of your members what was their sentence just for humiliating one of you? Did their disrespect really deserve such a harsh punishment as being sent to Azkaban and exposed to the horrors of dementors?"

"That's not…"

"No it is and you know it! Tell me how much does the party pay the Prophet to keep their indiscretions out of the paper? Or how much did Kane accept from the Cleansweep broom factory last month?" She was openly challenging her now.

"It's how politics work Clarke." Callie defended.

"Is it? We both know Nia is only head of the Magical Law Enforcement branch because she 'aided' the old administration with putting down the Trikru rebellion. Or what about the Magical Sporting department. Three of the top brass in that department make sizable campaign donations to Jaha's pockets every year. Is there a single head of department who isn't paying off Jaha or Kane? Prove me wrong." Thus she threw the gauntlet down.

Callie sat there eyes wide and silent. She opened her mouth a few times but always closed it. Finally, she slumped in defeat. "Why would you tell me all this?" She croaked.

Clarke breathed out, Callie believed her then. "Because I want to change it, and I'll need help doing it."

Callie spoke resigned. "What do you want from me then?"

"I want what I hope you want, to fix our broken repulsive system and create a better one. When you first took your family's seat you cared! You wanted change. You and my father both tried to fix the system, but you failed. I want to try again and this time do it in a way that won't get us killed."

"Even if I did help you, how would we do it? If you're right, we'll all be dead if we even get close to succeeding." Callie asked.

"I do have a plan and you've known me long enough to realize that I would not back a plan that I thought had no chance of succeeding. There will be risks, of course, as there are with any plan, but I think staving off the disaster that is coming for our country is worth it. You were my father's closest ally and I trust you enough to want you on my side, but I can't explain any more of my plans until you swear an oath not to reveal what you have heard." Clarke spoke with measured words.

"Clarke, I…..I don't know. What you're asking is…" Callie trailed off.

Clarke nodded standing up. "Take your time and think about it. I'll send you the evidence I've gained proving my father's murder. All I ask, is that if you decide not to help that you don't try and stop me."

Callie smiled and stood pulling Clarke into a hug. "You are so like your father sometimes." She whispered while squeezing her. "Promise you'll take care of yourself."

Clarke sighed accepting the hug and holding her godmother close to her. "You as well."

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

"You'll be wearing your blue gown at the winter gala this year of course. We have to show our support for Jaha's campaign." Abby said while cutting her steak, not even bothering to look up at Clarke.

When her father had still been alive the formal dining room had only been used when company was over. Family meals were eaten in the study or the kitchen. As soon as he passed away they'd begun eating in the formal dining room every evening. Clarke ate in her room for her other two meals avoiding the stilted one sided conversations that occurred at meals whenever possible.

Breathing, she prepared for a fight that would inevitably break out and all over a dress. "I'm afraid I've already chosen the red gown I wore to the dinner I attended in September."

Abby didn't look up from her meal. "Change it."

Clarke opened her mouth to reply when Gus popped into existence next her, a little silver tray with a letter on it in his hands. "Letter for Ms. Griffin." He announced politely.

Knowing acknowledging the elf properly wouldn't be tolerated by her mother, she just smiled at Gus while taking the letter from his tray. Seeing that it was from the ministry, she felt excitement swell. She didn't bother to grab her wand or a letter opener, she just used her dinner knife to slice open the envelope and pulled out the enclosed grades. Eyes flickering past the pleasantries, she focused on her grades. Potions-O, Defense Against the Dark Arts-O, History of Magic-E, Charms-E, Astronomy-A.

She felt like a weight had lifted off of her shoulders, she'd passed. Bellamy would never let her E in History of Magic go, and the barely passing Astronomy grade was depressing. Still, she'd passed, this was really happening.

"Anything of importance?" Abby asked looking up for the first time since the meal had started, even if only in passing.

"Yes, I've passed five of my NEWTS. That leaves three more for me to take in June." She replied easily, waiting to see her mother's reaction.

"You didn't take your NEWTS early, that would be preposterous." Abby responded, looking up in surprise.

"I'm afraid I did." She handed over her letter. "While the Astronomy grade is fairly disappointing, I'm sure it won't affect my future outlooks."

Abby seemed too shocked to say anything for a moment. "You...why would you do this?"

"Because I need to have four NEWTS before I can take our family seat in the Wizengamot mother." She said easily, staying calm and matter of fact.

"You think you're doing what?!" Abby gasped out, looking at Clarke like she'd never seen her before in her life.

"You heard correctly. I'm of age, meet all the requirements, and would like to uphold the family honor. It's only appropriate I take the position of head of family now." Clarke said simply.

"You're a child!" Abby half yelled.

Clarke arched an eyebrow, it was surprisingly entertaining to watch Abby react to the loss of her power. This was a moment she'd been waiting for since she'd first realized what her mother had done. "I'm seventeen and a legal adult in the eyes of the law. I meet all the requirements to do so, and historically I won't be the youngest Griffin to have ever controlled the seat. Glorifica Griffin in the sixteenth century received a dispensation and took the seat at age fifteen. Even father took the seat when he was eighteen."

"Honey, you can't just play at politics. Is this because you're upset about the dress? You can wear whatever you want but this ridiculousness needs to stop." Abby said in an annoyingly condescending voice.

"I don't intend to play." Clarke felt her voice threatening to crack with rage, she barely remembered to control and temper her response. "You've held the seat for so long, and you've sacrificed your career in healing. I can't allow you to make that sacrifice any longer. It is my task to fill dad's shoes."

Abby looked at her sympathetically. "Oh Clarke, I am happy to keep this burden from falling on you. I haven't sacrificed anything I wouldn't do again and again so that you could have a happy childhood."

Clarke felt the fork in her hand bending from the pressure she was putting on it. Plastering on a fake smile, she met her mother's eyes. "And if I find the burden too heavy to bear I know you will help however you can, but you can't protect me forever."

"It's too soon! At least wait until you graduate from school. What about your apprenticeship?" Abby tried.

"I have decided, and as head of this family it is my right to do so. On the fifth of January, I will take the Griffin seat. I can promise you that I will follow in my father's footsteps and ensure the stability and interests of this family above all else." She hardened her gaze just slightly.

Abby seemed to lose it at that. Abby had always responded in anger to challenges to her authority and this was the ultimate challenge. Clarke watched her mother rise hurriedly to her feet, no doubt about to explode. "YOU WILL DO AS YOU'RE TOLD! You will stop this silly nonsense right this instant! You are a child!"

Clarke was amazed her mother actually thought that would work. Standing slowly and purposefully she stared at her mother and wondered how long ago the woman had been lost to her. Maybe she'd never been the mother she remembered from her early childhood before her father died. "Mother, you will accept this or you won't. However, there is nothing you can do to stop me. I am the head of this house. It is my blood that is bound to the Griffin family legacy. I will protect this family, even if I have to go against you to do it." With that she spun on her heel and walked out the front doors of the manor. Walking stiffly, she kept going till she reached the edge of the wards. Apparating away, she had only one destination in mind.

"Do I want to know why you're on my bed?" Bellamy asked from where he was standing in the doorway of his room.

"I told my mother I was taking the family seat at dinner. She wasn't pleased." Clarke grunted from where she was laying on her back. "I also cleaned some, you are a disaster Blake."

"Everything still to plan?" He asked while closing the door and pulling off his outer cloak.

"Just peachy." Clarke said. "Mind if I hide here for another hour or so?"

"Budge over, the chair is horribly uncomfortable and of course you can stay as long as you like. Technically speaking, you are the one paying for the room anyway." He replied.

Clarke rolled so that she was just taking up half the bed. She snorted when he jumped on the bed like some sort of kid on a sugar high before settling down. "How are things on your end?" she asked.

"Good, Murphy should be getting back with the quills in a week and I've gotten two new members sworn in to the rebellion." He replied while pulling his shoes off and flexing his toes.

"Your feet stink." She remarked scrunching her nose. "Also, congratulations on the recruitment, just be careful ok?"

"Of course I'm careful! I'm going to go grey due to all the worry this is causing me." He pouted at the mention of grey hair.

"I'm sure Gina won't mind some grey locks. Might make you look dignified if that's possible." She snarked.

Bellamy leaned back heavily. "I don't think the date went well." He grumbled.

"What happened?" Clarke asked genuinely curious.

"I spilled pumpkin juice down her front." He muttered while blushing.

Clarke felt a smile take over her face before she burst into laughter. "Oh my god, you would!" She wiped a tear away.

"It's not funny!" He smacked her with a pillow.

Letting out a yelp, she sat up and glared at him playfully. "Come on, did you get a second date?"

"Yeah, but like how do you come back from that?" He whined.

"If she's going out with you again then you didn't do so bad. She probably thought it was cute that you were drooling over her." She said.

"I don't drool!" He exclaimed.

"Yes, yes you do." She snorted. "We haven't even known each other long and I know you drool. I could always ask Octavia though?" She threatened.

"Don't do that!" He squeaked. "She'll ruin my image if you do that."

"What, are you less the gallant rebel than you play at?" She teased.

"We're part of an actual rebellion, remember? And I don't know if you've noticed but Dax seems to think you'd pay for a night with me." He flicked his hair back while smirking at her.

"Little does he know you're cheap, I get a night with you for free." She said.

Bellamy narrowed his eyes before smacking her with a pillow again.

"Oh it's on!" She grabbed her own pillow and prepared for war.


	18. Chapter 18

Hey guys sorry for the delay on this chapter. Some of you have mentioned putting this in the 100 category instead of the crossover category. I considered it when I first published it but I have to admit to being kind of a rule follower. I also hoped that other story A Different Landing would encourage people to look for our other stories. Anyway I am still considering putting it in the general 100 category and I very well might one day. Thank you for your input.

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

Bellamy enjoyed walking around muggle London. His friends raised in the wizarding world always preferred muggle gifts. He poked his head into a children's toy story and grinned, jackpot. He grabbed a couple rubik's cubes. He had a feeling, despite being a muggleborn, Raven would get a kick out of one. Another turn and he was grabbing a jar of oobleck for Jasper. He got a kazoo for Monroe and now he had all of his magically raised friend's gifts seen too. After paying with change he'd summoned out of storm drains, a surprisingly successful method of making extra money, he began wandering.

Muggle London was different than Diagon Alley in a hundred different ways. Everyone got caught up in the excitement and, well, magic of the magical sections of the city. The fashion, moving signs and posters, frogs making mad dashes away from the pet store. Goblins and hags making their way about. Structures that shouldn't be able to stand according to the laws of physics. Muggleborns with wide eyed wonder struck faces were normal around the end of summer.

It was the differences that people didn't tend to notice that fascinated him. Muggles were far less observant than many would realize and wizards were far less subtle. The wizards who walked through muggle London in a bright pink coat, thinking it was the muggle fashion and they would blend in, were immediately noticed and ridiculed. However, a goblin wearing a hat could pass through unnoticed. The irony of that was fascinating to him. He popped into a coffee shop and ordered a giant eggnog concoction and hummed happily as he continued on his way. Muggles seriously made the best coffee.

Turning to a dark alley he made his way behind a dumpster. A quick check and he apparated into an open field in southern England. Taking a large mouthful of his drink, he walked along till he came across a small farm house. Climbing over the stone fence, he puffed out his breath. It clouded in the cold air and he shivered.

Pushing open the door, he started nosing around. According to the papers, a triple homicide had occurred at the place two years ago. Between the disrepair and the history, no one had bought it and it was still on the market. It was a good candidate for a safe house. A couple muggle repelling wards and it would at least temporarily make a safe place to hide out if needed.

He carefully examined the walls, making sure there weren't any structural issues that a little magic wouldn't take care of if needed. The lack of termites was helpful. A couple of rats wouldn't be hard to take care of and it didn't seem infested by the rodents. The unintelligent animals were odd to him since he was so used to interacting with magical rats.

Ducking around, he pulled out his notebook and began sketching out the floor plan. Two bedrooms, a bathroom in a great deal of disrepair, a study, and a kitchen dining room combo. He filled out the relevant information and began to make a final check. He was avoiding his next stop and he knew it.

With a final look, he closed his eyes and apparated away.

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

Atom's family lived in a neighborhood in the suburbs of Norwitch. It was a quaint area. The houses were squished together into nearly identical rows but each house had a bit of personality shining through. Bellamy stood in front of a small two story blue house with window boxes. He could see the edge of disrepair beginning. The small postage stamp of a lawn hadn't been cut in a couple of weeks and the window boxes looked rather dried out. It wasn't immediately noticeable but he could see grief taking its effect on this place. Breathing in a steadying breath, he walked up to the blue door and knocked.

It didn't take long for the door to open. When he saw the woman who had opened the door, he noticed the weary set to her shoulders and the almost resigned look on her face. He had never seen such an expression on Atom's face but somehow the resemblance still came through and it froze him. Suddenly, he was back in Shumway's office, watching as Atom gasped for breath and the life seemed to fade from him before his eyes. He was startled out of his memory when the woman, Atom's mother, spoke.

"Hello, can I help you?" There was a forced politeness to her voice that grated against Bellamy's nerves but he forced himself to speak.

"My name is Bellamy Blake. I am a friend of your son's from Hogwarts and I would like to speak to you about your son." The woman gasped and finally there seemed to be some life in her grieving eyes.

"You know something about my Atom? You must come in and tell me everything. We have been so worried since we received that letter from the headmistress saying he had run away from school." The woman wrung her hands. "That's just not my boy. Sure there may have been some bullying but my son loved Hogwarts. He talked about you and your group of friends all the time when he came home and we could tell that he had found a place to belong. Atom wouldn't leave that."

Bellamy winced on hearing the lie they had been told by that vile woman. He knew that they had been told a story about Atom running away to protect the secrecy of his murder but it galled him to hear the words leave her lips. He supposed that was why he was here, to give them as much closure and truth as he could. He owed them that. It also pierced his heart to hear that Atom had told them how much he loved being a part of Bellamy's group. It had been Bellamy's job to protect Atom and he had failed.

Atom's mother led him inside, closing the door behind her. When they had reached the sitting room she told him to sit down and asked him to wait while she got her husband. It didn't take her long to return with her husband. He looked just as downtrodden as his wife, there were weary lines on his face and shadows under his eyes. They both sat down on the edge of a comfortable looking couch and Bellamy sat across from them on a chair. They both seemed to be consciously keeping themselves from exploding with a parade of questions. Finally, Atom's mother broke the silence Bellamy could not seem to force himself to end by introducing herself and her husband.

"I'm sorry, I have been so impolite my name is Cathy Jones and this is my husband Steve. I have heard about you from Atom. Do you have any idea where he might have gone? What might have prompted him to run away? He seemed so happy at Hogwarts with your group. We have been so worried about him but there is just so little we can do. We've put up some posters at some of Atom's favorite hang outs but nothing has come of it." There was desperation in her words and gestures and Bellamy swallowed as he prepared to tell his story.

"I am deeply sorry Ma'am but Atom didn't run away. Atom was murdered by one of the teachers. I was th…" Bellamy was interrupted by Mrs. Jones' wild protests.

"NO. That can't be true. We received a letter informing us he had run away. The Headmistress assured us that every effort was being made to find him! Atom can't be dead. He can't be. They would have told us. We would have known." Mrs. Jones shrieked. Mr. Jones laid a hand on her arm to try and calm her but it was clear he didn't disagree with her.

Bellamy tried to remain calm. His heart ached still over the death of his friend. He had to get this out quickly or he would never get it out at all. "The administration lied. They tend to do that. I was there when he died. My sister had been called into a detention with our most prejudiced and cruel teacher, Professor Shumway. Atom was with her when she received it and he was the one who informed us that she was in danger. He came along with me and a group of my friends when we ran off to rescue her. When we entered the room, Shumway fired a deadly curse at us and it hit Atom before we had any idea of what had happened. I killed…" Bellamy paused here, struggling to continue, "I hit Shumway with a banishing hex and he was killed by the impact." Once again Bellamy paused trying to find the strength to continue. "I'm so sorry, Atom was my friend and my responsibility I should of…" He trailed off unable to say any more.

"You're saying he was killed by a teacher. That my son was killed by someone who was supposed to look after him. Please tell me you're lying, that my son isn't really dead. That we did not send him off to that school to die. We only sent Atom to Hogwarts because we thought he would be more accepted and not bullied for the unusual things that happened around him. Hogwarts was supposed to be a safe environment for him to learn about his magic and how to control it. He wasn't supposed to be in danger, he was supposed to be safe." Mr. Jones seemed stuck, trying as hard as he could to deny the possibility that his son was dead and that he had been complicit in sending his son into the environment that had led to his death. Bellamy could see that they were beginning to believe him despite themselves and it killed him to have to confirm their growing fear that Atom really was dead. To confirm for them that Atom had been killed by the magical world that was supposed to be his salvation from bullying and a place that would help him understand and control the odd things that happened around him since he was a boy.

"He was very brave." He finally settled on.

Mrs. Jones let out a high pitched wail while one hand clutched at her chest.

"Hogwarts is not the safe place that it should be for its students." Bellamy said, trying to focus on the abstract and the injustice of the situation so that he would not have to feel the hurt.

"Prejudice has gained too much of a foothold. Bullies are allowed, even encouraged by some part of the administration, to terrorize those without a magical background and those whose backgrounds is a mix of magical and non-magical. Professor Shumway was the worst of them, going out of his way to do whatever he could to hurt those from non-magical families and those from mixed backgrounds. He was encouraged in this by our headmistress, who I'm afraid is the worst sort of elitist." Bellamy stopped, unsure of how to continue and how much he should say. Still, this needed to be said. Atom's parents needed to know why he died and that Bellamy was going to make sure that he did not die in vain.

''My friends and I, well, we're not going to let this stand. We are going to fight against the prejudice and find a way to make the wizarding world a better place for people like your son. So that it can be the safe haven it should be for those coming from a world without magic. I am going to do everything I can to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again. You have my word." His voice was thick with emotion.

At that, the reality of the situation seemed to sink in for Atom's mom and last of her doubts faded away. She broke down into sobs and her husband hugged her trying to comfort her though he was obviously grieving as well. Bellamy sat awkwardly nearby, unsure of what to do, unable to leave, but uncomfortable with being a witness to this private moment of grief.

"Thank you, son, for telling us. I think deep down we have suspected the worst. It didn't make sense, especially when we never heard from him. Please stay, we'd like to hear more about how you are fighting this prejudice. It is just hard to have our worst fears confirmed. Just give us a minute." Mr. Jones addressed him briefly. Bellamy supposed he should call him Steve now. Sharing a grief like this seemed too personal a thing to still be calling him by his family name.

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

Bellamy felt somehow lighter, like a burden had been lifted, as he left the Jones house having finished speaking with Cathy and Steve. He knew Clarke would disapprove of him talking to Atom's muggle parents but it was the right thing to do. They deserved to know what had happened to their son and be assured that when it was possible they would be able to bury him properly. He had even been able to let out a bit of his own grief and cry with them. It was the first time since the tragedy originally occurred that he had been able to be completely honest with someone without the added responsibility of having to appear strong. It was a relief and a release that he hadn't known he needed.

The Joneses had further surprised him when they had begged to be allowed to help. He'd promised to get in contact with them again, but he was loath to risk Atom's family when he'd already gotten his friend killed. Still, denying them their small chance at justice wasn't something he could take away from them. So, he would talk to Clarke, maybe they could host a safe house. It's not like the ministry would think to check a muggle household. They needed something. He hoped that this was what they needed because this, at least, he could give to them.

He ducked back into another alley before apparating back to the Leaky Cauldron. Once back in his room, he pulled out his purchases and dropped them on the vanity before collapsing on the bed with a groan. He felt exhausted. It had been a long day and he wasn't anywhere near done yet. There was so much to do before going back over break. He had recruited six adults so far. It was a decent start, but honestly he doubted he'd get any more until after he was out of Hogwarts himself. If only they had a way to advertise. That made him pause.

Sitting up, he grabbed a notebook and pulled out a fountain pen and started writing. If they could pull something off, publicly and successfully, people would want to join. It would also make it publicly known that there was a rebellion for the rights of half-bloods and muggleborns. Half the problem now, was having to explain the existence of a rebellion and what they fought for over and over again. A well timed and executed protest could be worth more than a thousand words. To pull off something of this nature, they needed people they could trust in the hidden corners of the magical districts where malcontent people would naturally flock. They needed to recruit Murphy, and not just in a finder's fee type relationship. They needed him sworn in to the rebellion. His underground contacts would make widespread recruitment after a large event feasible. He would be able to vet people before they joined and provide secure places for the rebellion to feel people out.

Grabbing his bracelet, he concentrated on a message. "Clarke. Recruitment idea. BB."

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

"You summoned?" Clarke asked after appearing in the middle of his room with a crack.

"That was surprisingly fast." He said, looking up from his notebook in surprise. "I only sent the message through an hour ago."

Clarke sat down next to him on the bed. "Abby is still on the warpath. With the winter gala getting closer, she's getting more confrontational. She tried to order the elves to hide all my dresses but the one she wanted me to wear, I had to pretend to be in a panic about it and go out to Madame Malkins to get a new dress made. Luckily the elves are on my side in this so it was just a ruse to ensure she doesn't realize how poorly her plan actually worked. As long as she still thinks I am a naive idealist, easily controlled through her blunt attempts at manipulation, she shouldn't be too much trouble. She'll be focused on her attempts to manipulate and pull one over on me while I am pursuing my own agenda elsewhere." Clarke said with a clear scoff at the idea that Abby thought her attempts to manipulate her were in any way subtle.

He shook his head, still not used to the idea of anyone having enough money for more than one elf and that they could be used in a war of manipulation between family. "Anyways, I've hit a wall in recruitment. We're just not going to get adults with the way the rebellion is set up right now."

"And you know how to change that?" She asked curiously.

"Yeah, maybe if people knew they were joining an established legitimate movement, they'd be easier to recruit. Right now, we just don't have a reputation. If we can plan a flashy and attention grabbing protest to show the world we're here and that we're doing something, we would see membership rise." He explained.

"What are you thinking?" She asked, pulling up her legs so that she was sitting cross legged across from him.

"What about a parade, fireworks the whole thing. That would get people's attention. Plus, it isn't something that can be perceived as violent by the common person." He explained excitedly.

"We'd all get arrested, even if we managed to hide our identities, it would still be straight to Azkaban. There is no way we could defend against the aurors." She said frowning.

"We don't have to actually be physically there. I was thinking about how Peeves is always causing chaos without physically being there. Why can't we do the same thing? We have magic, let's use it!" He grinned excitedly.

"Any idea on how we'd do that exactly?" She asked dubiously.

"No," He admitted, "but we have an entire rebellion of eager young minds don't we." He smirked.

"True, you come up with a way to pull that off and it would make a fabulous distraction." She said tapping her finger against her wand.

"Distraction?" He asked.

"Yeah, we need to destroy the Department of Underage Magic before school lets out. It's where they have the equipment that monitors underage magic. We take that down and our members can do whatever we need them to do over break and they'll have no way of tracking us."

"So what, while the aurors are out trying to stop whatever we come up with someone sneaks into the ministry and commits mass vandalism?" He was enjoying this plan.

"Exactly, we'll need some things for sneaking into the ministry though." She said.

"We have time, but we need to pull this off before the school year ends." He said.

"Well then, guess we have to start planning." She smiled at him and he felt some more of the weight from earlier in the day dropping away. Still there was something else he needed to talk with her about and it would be better to do it now than later.

"I talked with Atom's parents today." Bellamy said, pausing and waiting for Clarke's response.

"You did what?" Clarke asked, clearly surprised.

"I talked with Atom's parents and told them what happened. They deserved to know what happened to their son and it's not like them knowing can do much damage anyway." Bellamy responded, already trying to defend himself from the censure he knew was coming.

"Of course they deserve to know but telling them makes them vulnerable to any unethical witch or wizard who might try and investigate what happened and see no problem with searching their minds. I don't think such a circumstance is likely but handing out that information to those so undefended was a risk. You should have spoken to me before you revealed anything." Clarke returned, upset with having this sprung on her.

"I knew you would disapprove and they deserved to know. Atom deserved to have his parents informed. You know the risk is minimal, when do wizards ever consider pursuing muggle lines of investigation? Which is something we should consider. I told them that the injustice that led to Atom's death would not stand and that there were people who were going to be fighting against that sort of prejudice. When they heard that they wanted to help. They wanted to be a part of making the wizarding world safe for muggleborns like Atom. Think of what we could do with contacts in the muggle world."

Clarke hummed looking at him closely. "You have a plan then?"

"Most wizards don't know anything about how to deal with the muggle world. There are all sorts of ways we could operate in the muggle world that would be so helpful to the rebellion." Bellamy could see Clarke considering his words and there were definitely ideas brewing behind Clarke's eyes.

"There is a lot of potential there. We'll have to consider how best to use it. It's a good idea but next time consult me before taking these kinds of risks. We're a team, we should make these decisions together." There was still reprimand in her tone but he could tell that the idea of using the muggle world had caught her interest. She was right anyway. She had consulted him for any major decision so far. It was only fair he do the same.

"You're right we're partners. Next time I will consult you." Bellamy said with a smile. Things were starting to look up. Plans were coming together in Bellamy's mind and for the first time, he was starting to believe that they could really do this.

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

Bellamy dropped his resume off at another bookstore. He needed to get a job as soon as he graduated from Hogwarts and he wasn't asking Clarke to help him do it. She did enough for him already. So, that meant dropping off resumes and introducing himself to managers now, then coming back over spring break for a second round. Noticing the sun setting, he made his way down one of the less reputable streets off Diagon Alley.

He opened the crooked door of a bar. It was a disreputable place that he knew his mother had frequented when she was alive looking for customers. Walking to the bar, he raised a finger and a glass of fire whiskey appeared in front of him. He was only a few sips in when Murphy sat down next to him.

"What are you doing here Blake?" He asked.

"I figured I would pick up the items I requested earlier. I know you already have them, probably already had them when I first asked. You're just dragging your feet on delivery to raise the price." He took a sip of his whiskey and felt it burn on the path down his throat. He could feel it all the way to his toes.

Murphy smirked. "Is your 'patron' getting cold feet on the sale?" He asked. "You know those rich types. If they don't have the balls to do it themselves, they don't have the balls at all."

"Oh, she doesn't get cold feet Murphy. In fact, she's the real reason I'm here. She wants a meeting with you, all proper like. You bring the goods and she'll have your next task for you, and a tip for prompt services." Bellamy knew, and had told Clarke, that the only way Murphy signed up was if he thought the wind was blowing their way. He was a survivor. He only did what was good for him.

Murphy tensed and stared at Bellamy carefully. "You gave your patron my name?"

"Of course, and she's not really my patron. Call her my partner." He reached into the pockets of his robe and pulled out a pouch clearly containing floo powder. "I swear no harm will come to you," he said seriously. He downed the rest of his drink in one gulp before leveling his gaze on Murphy again to see his decision.

"Only because I've known you since I was kid. If this is a trap Blake, I'll kill you if it's the last thing I do." He snapped.

"I wouldn't expect any different." Standing, he walked to the grimy fireplace in the store. Grabbing Murphy's shoulder with his left hand, he pulled out a handful of floo powder with his right. Throwing it in, he declared, "Sky Keep."

With that he stepped into the green flames hauling Murphy in with him. Murphy had tried to step back when he heard the address leading to them ending up sprawled in a tangle of limbs on the hearth of the fireplace at Sky Keep.

"For fucks sake Murphy!" Bellamy cried while trying to untangle them.

Murphy opened his mouth to say something Bellamy assumed would be scathing when he was interrupted by Clarke laughing hysterically. He felt his face turn red, he would never live this down. Grumbling under his breath, he picked himself up while glaring at Murphy darkly.

Murphy sprang to his feet as soon as he could, swinging his head around, taking in their surroundings. Actually, Bellamy realized he should be doing the same, it's not like he had ever been here before. He took in the living room he'd tumbled into with curiosity. The room was done in blues and greys with white wood furniture. They were clearly in a study of some kind based off the books and the large desk that took up one corner of the room. Sitting on top of the desk, smiling at him with suppressed mirth in her eyes, was Clarke. There was a house elf in a red velvet pillowcase with a crest that was incredibly similar to his house crest embroidered over the pillow's front.

He saw a coffee table with scones and tea steaming on top of it. He grinned, he could do with some food not from the inn. He dropped easily onto the blue couch that was surprisingly not that comfortable, before reaching for a scone. Oooh and they had his favorite flavor of jam. He briefly wondered if Clarke was a mind reader before deciding to just enjoy the treat. He hummed while spreading jam on his scone.

"What is this place?!" Murphy asked in awe.

Bellamy could tell why. There was an impressive painting over the fireplace of two dragons circling each other. The clock looked like it was made from pure silver, as did the tea set he was in front of and using to butter his scone. Really, the whole place wasn't ostentatious but was clearly owned and maintained by someone with wealth to spare.

"You're in Sky Keep," Clarke spoke up. "It's served as a summer retreat for my family for over eight hundred years. It's completely private and is one of two properties that I own. I assumed you'd wish to avoid the family manor for this sort of meeting." She continued.

Murphy scowled at her. "What are you playing at princess?"

Bellamy choked on his scone trying not to laugh. It would seem that nickname was never going to go away. He was surprised to look up and find the elf from before standing in front of him with big clever eyes.

"Would you like some tea mister?" It inquired politely.

"Mister?" Murphy sneered as he gingerly took a seat in a blue arm chair across from him.

"Do be polite to Tris would you, she's a dear friend." Clarke rebuked as she came and took the second arm chair after pouring herself a cup of tea.

"I'd love some tea." Bellamy said while smiling at the elf.

The elf seemed pleased and faster than he could blink there was a cup of steaming tea in his hand and the seat next to him on the couch was being occupied by the small creature. He watched amused as it pulled a chocolate truffle out of its pillow case and began to nibble at it.

"Friend," Murphy sneered, "sure and I'm a wizard."

"She's the bank dude." Bellamy spoke up before Murphy could get himself too far into Clarke's bad books.

Murphy rolled his eyes. "So, what do you want then, to fence some family heirlooms behind mommy and daddy's backs? Buy some Felix Felicis for those pesky NEWTS?"

Bellamy closed his eyes, Murphy shouldn't have done that. He was a squib in a magical household, outnumbered and without a means of escape. Why he had to run his mouth he didn't know. For all his survival skills, keeping his mouth shut wasn't one of them.

"I'm afraid I don't want or need either of those things. What I want is to take over magical Britain." Clarke sipped her tea. Bellamy could see her amusement in her eyes as she watched Murphy open and close his mouth a couple of times. He just sighed, it was slightly frightening how much she was enjoying messing with Murphy.

"Good one, what do you really want?" He asked finally.

"To overthrow the British wizarding government and put in a new hierarchy, repeal a lot of unjust laws, push through reform, and see some very bad people get sent to Azkaban." She set her teacup down in her saucer. "And I'm Lady Griffin, soon to be the youngest member of the Wizengamot in fifty-two years."

"Ha, ha, Bellamy what's really going on?" He asked turning to him.

Bellamy sighed and swallowed his bite of scone, it really was delicious. "We've started a rebellion against the government and I think you'd make a good recruit. Clarke wasn't so sure you are trustworthy so we're meeting on her property instead of at the Cauldron."

Murphy stood up, knocking his chair back. "This isn't funny. I want to leave, now."

Clarke sighed. "You're free to go, of course you'll have your time here obliviated, but I'll be sure to compensate you for your lost time and memories." Reaching forward, she dropped ten galleons on the table. "Or you can sit down, drink some tea, listen to our proposition, and decide what you want after you've heard us out."

Bellamy watched Murphy's face close off as he thought about it before he slowly picked up his chair and sat back down. "I'm listening."

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

Bellamy offered Murphy a glass of firewhiskey. He looked like he needed it. He sat down next to him at the bar. "You doing ok? I know it's a lot."

Murphy glared at him while his right hand gripped over his left arm where he was now sporting a new tattoo. "Don't you dare." He hissed. "You dragged me there knowing what was waiting on the other side."

"And you were free to leave at any time." Bellamy said calmly.

"You're lucky I see my chance with your brand of insanity. Although, I never would have pegged you as the type to sign up with a dark lord. Me, sure, but you never struck me as the type." He sneered.

Bellamy waved his wand subtly by his leg putting up some privacy barriers. "She's not a dark lord, you know that right? I mean dark lords tend not to be big into equal rights, justice and distributed power."

"You're not going to tell me she doesn't practice dark magic. Cause I may be a squib but I can feel it in the air around her. And that oath wasn't light in any shape or form." He replied.

"Sure, but that sort of goes with the old pureblood thing." Bellamy waved off.

"You're an idiot. She's a dark magic using, pureblood, with delusions of grandeur, sworn followers, and a plan for domination." He took a deep drag from his glass.

Bellamy laughed, "I'll give you that, she's something. Still, she's not a dark lord. If she is, she's the sort I'd follow. I have a feeling she isn't going to start collecting the toes of her followers like the Dark Lord Argos."

"Of course, you'd know that." He shook his head. "If this gets us killed, I'm coming back as a ghost to haunt your descendants, got it?"

"I wouldn't expect anything else." Bellamy said, clinking his glass to Murphy's before taking another drink. "How long do you think it will take you to get ahold of a hand of glory?"

"Well, you two sure aren't messing about. That is a seriously dark artifact. It could take me anywhere from a day to a couple months. So, don't hold your breath. I expect one of those JEM things you were talking about. If I get in trouble, I expect a rescue, got it?"

"Of course," Bellamy tapped his fingers on the bar top for a minute. "Actually, if you have any ideas on how to organize a rescue system for unjust arrests by the aurors that would be really helpful."

"You don't ask for easy things do you?" Murphy asked sarcastically.

"Where's the fun in that? Be glad you're not going around recruiting people older than you to risk their lives for you and take orders from a student." He said, while contemplating his current task. It really was insane.


	19. Chapter 19

Clarke hated wizarding fashion sometimes. It meant that, when interacting with her social equals, she had to be dressed properly. No comfy convenient pocket filled cargo pants hiding under formal robes. Still, she refused to be as impractical as purebloods like her mother and wear dresses every day. Honestly, floo travel while in a dress was the height of annoying. She pulled on a pair of tightly fitted pants and a long tailored sweatshirt. She put a warm robe with silver clasps over that and also put on gloves and a scarf. With that, she made her way out into the entrance hall to floo to her appointment.

"Going somewhere?" Her mother asked, voice hard.

Clarke sighed before turning to face her mother. "Yes, I have a business appointment to purchase a new building for the family holdings."

"So, you're spending the family money now too?" She asked.

"Yes, there is a muggle saying that applies, 'one has to spend money to make money'." Clarke replied while taking a handful of floo powder.

"Of course it's a muggle saying, it's completely ridiculous," Abby scoffed. "All you're going to do is lose this family's fortune."

"I'm going to invest the family money because I have no intention of our family following in the footsteps of families like the Azgeda family." Clarke replied.

"They were a lesser house and wasted their funds, you shouldn't concern yourself with their loss of fortune." Abby waved off.

"They are a warning mother. Sitting on our fortunes for generations is steadily reducing those fortunes into nothing. We need a steady stream of income to recover what we and my ancestors have spent," she said carefully. No need to point out that Abby's insistence on acting the part of the entitled pureblood was draining the vault faster than their current investments would recoup.

"If we can get the muggleborn issue taken care of, we'd stop losing money on the interlopers." Abby spat.

Clarke wished sometimes that Hogwarts had an economics class. It would help the wizarding world immensely. Wells' purchase of a muggle textbook on the subject in fourth year had been a revelation. "Regardless of the contributing factors, sound investments will provide for the future of this house. We can afford to take the losses if they don't succeed."

Stepping up to the fire, she raised her hand holding the floo powder. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I don't wish to be late." With that she threw in the powder, announced, "The Leaky Cauldron," and stepped into the flames.

She managed to land easily on the other side and made her way to the door and out into the alley. She gave a small nod to Bellamy, who was eating his breakfast by the bar. Sadly, she didn't have time to stop and chat. She had a lot to do today, she had the last of her Christmas shopping; her appointment with the owner of the establishment Miller had found; and then the Christmas gala that night. Altogether, she was going to be glad to see her bed when she got home tonight.

She tapped the required brick and watched the entrance to the alley take form. Once the archway was formed, she walked to the two story building directly to the left. It was an old dark building, and looked to have been made from oak that had been weathered and stained over the years. The front window was boarded up and the place was in some disrepair. However, generally it looked sound. Lifting her hand, she rapped sharply on the door and was pleased when it was promptly opened.

"Lady Griffin, welcome." The blond broker opened the door and stepped back, allowing Clarke to enter.

Clarke smiled at the slightly older girl. "Please Ms. Poste, just Clarke or Ms. Griffin if you must."

"Ms. Griffin then." Ms. Poste said with a polite smile. "We were surprised when you contacted us about the property."

"Pleasantly I'd hope?" Clarke arched an eyebrow.

"Of course, this a valuable property but requires some work to make it presentable. As such, few people who have the means to afford it have expressed an interest in purchasing it." Ms. Poste stood to the side so that Clarke had a good view of the inside. "As you can see, the premises open into a front store area. There is a storeroom in the back as well as a large apartment on the second story. The fireplace in the apartment is already connected to the floo system. Protective enchantments are woven into the walls to prevent stray magic from causing too much damage."

"Is there any area that could be converted into a potion brewing station?" Clarke asked, looking at Ms. Poste.

"Of course, the former owners obviously used the premises as a used book store. However, before that it was a magical remedy shop. That was before St. Mungo's was founded and such places were made mostly obsolete. If you would just follow me, I can show you how the store room could easily be converted into a potions lab." Ms. Poste walked to the back of the empty shop and opened a door that was clearly designed to blend into the dark walls.

Clarke nodded in approval as she noticed how the door almost seamlessly fit into the wall. Walking into the backroom, she saw what Ms. Poste meant. The storeroom had a stone floor and the walls were also stone up to about four feet. It wouldn't be hard to transform this place into a potion lab for Monty and Jasper. "I see what you mean, this will do nicely. The apartment upstairs, would you mind showing it to me?"

"Of course not, Ms. Griffin."

Once upstairs, Clarke examined the apartment. It was large due to taking up the same floor space as the store and storeroom. Based off the patterns of dust, she could tell the previous owners had mainly used the space for extra storage. There was a small, by wizarding standards, fireplace barely large enough to have a floo connection. However, that was hardly an issue. Apparition would be the chief magical transportation used in a place like this anyways. Raven would be more than capable of designing wards that allowed it.

"As you can see there is a kitchen and bedroom as well as plenty of space for furniture." Ms. Poste said once Clarke had made a circle of the room. "This really is an excellent property. Between the location and history, it's our best one on the alley."

Clarke smiled, "I'm aware, and I'd be happy to sign for it today. I've already done my research on it. This was really a formality, and an excuse to repay a favor."

Ms. Poste blushed. "You didn't have to do that."

"Please, you helped with my werewolf research extensively." Clarke waved off. "The least I could do is see to it that you got the commission from a sale I was already going to give to your offices."

"You more than paid me back by keeping my secret." Ms. Poste replied.

"I would never have told anyone your mother was a werewolf. It was never my secret to tell. You know me well enough to know that," she replied. "Now, I do believe I have some papers to sign?"

"Yes, of course." Ms. Poste turned, "They're down in the main part of the shop."

Several signatures and a significantly poorer Clarke was the proud new owner of 15 Diagon Alley. With official business done, she offered her hand. "Thank you Niylah. It was a pleasure seeing you again."

"I'm the one who owes you thanks, Clarke." Niylah responded while taking her hand and shaking it gently.

"Well, let's call it even then shall we?" Clarke smiled. "We should get some lunch together sometime. We haven't spoken since you graduated last year."

"We're not at Hogwarts any longer. It's not appropriate for the Lady of an ancient and noble house to have meals with a poor half-blood." Niylah said.

Clarke sighed, Niylah was a true Hufflepuff and loyal to her friends. She would never let their acquaintanceship harm Clarke's image. Silly, self-sacrificing puff. "I'm aware, but there are several ways around that. I have to say, I always did enjoy muggle London. Also, I have a proposition for you that I think might interest you. Of course, if you don't want to that's fine as well."

Niylah smiled while rolling up her office's copy of the contract. "I'd be happy to in that case."

"Excellent, I'll send you an owl after Christmas." Clarke pocketed her own copy of the contract. "A pleasure doing business Ms. Poste."

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

To Clarke, her appearance was inconsequential really. Once when her mother was away on business as a child she and her father had spent a whole month out at the old family castle. She'd run across the grounds skinning her knees, and played in the dirt. She'd forgotten to bathe for a solid two weeks. When her mother returned, she had been horrified at the rat's nest her hair had transformed into and the smudged dirt across her cheeks.

Sadly, for her plans to come to fruition, it was key that pureblood society saw her as their darling. Which meant she was forced to spend a ridiculous amount of time preparing for the gala. These events had an unofficial dress code. Everyone, who was anyone, would attend. Every seated member of the Wizengamot would be there, the heads of all the departments, several employees of The Prophet, prominent business owners, and any titled purebloods. Several renowned or famous witches and wizards would also be in attendance. It was also a venue the members of the Wizengamot used to drum up support for their parties before the yearly elections.

As such, an unofficial dress code had formed over the years. Those in support of the Purist party would wear a soft green somewhere on their person. Green dresses and dress robes would be popular. The Traditionalists would meanwhile be wearing a soft sky blue to show their support or membership. The reformist party used to be represented by red but in recent years since the death of most of their key members, they had been wearing black to symbolize their mourning. Of course, there would be other colors but generally it would be a sea of sage and baby blue interspersed with the occasional black. This was also the first significant step towards her political goals. The gossip among important circles was already full of how she was taking her family seat. This meant as far as the Purist party was concerned, this was an important opportunity to sway her vote. As a hereditary member and not an elected one, her party could change based on personal beliefs not on public support.

The Traditionalists would be trying to make sure she didn't move her vote to the opposing party. Thus, her choice to wear a purple dress was a power play. She was declaring without words that she hadn't made her choice yet. It was setting the stage for her to found the Latrocinium party without anyone feeling betrayed. If she even subtly chose a side and then later betrayed it, there would be a backlash she wanted to avoid. She didn't need enemies this early in her career, which meant playing both sides. So, here she was making sure her dark purple gown was perfect, her hair curled just right so that it fell over one shoulder and magically stayed in place.

She hung a thick golden chain around her neck so that her family crest rested heavily on her chest. She looped the matching ruby encrusted bracelet onto her wrist. Slipping the matching earrings on, she slid her wand into a hidden pocket in her dress designed to keep her wand out of sight. Making her way down to the entrance of the house, she saw her mother dressed in the blue of the Traditionalists waiting for her.

"Finally, we're going to be late. This power is going to your head." Abby snapped.

Clarke rolled her eyes. "Since you are no longer second to the head of the Traditionalist party, we are not expected to arrive exactly on time and instead are free to arrive fashionably late."

"I don't even know you anymore, Clarke." Abby said as she grabbed her handful of floo powder.

Clarke didn't say anything, deeply resisting telling Abby that she didn't have a clue how right she was. Now wasn't the time. She followed her mother into the flames instead.

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

The Gala was as extravagant as always. The ceiling was filled with swirling patterns moving about and drawing the eye. There were fountains of water glittering in the light. A string quartet was playing light dancing music. Towers were built out of champagne glasses and ladies sipped at elvish wine. Dresses sparkled and jewelry flashed due to the floating orbs of light. To be blunt, it was exquisite, and Clarke was ready to enjoy the game.

She got a thrill out of playing her part and fooling those around her. Sure, it was stressful but the rush of measuring every word and every movement never got old. There was a reason she was in Slytherin and this was part of it.

"My dear, you must simply be parched." Dante said as he approached offering her a flute of champagne.

"Indeed," she said while accepting it with a soft smile. "How are you this evening Lord Wallace?"

He smiled conspiratorially towards her and leaned in speaking in a fake whisper. "My feet are absolutely killing me, and please, Dante between friends, I insist."

Clarke laughed lightly, for such a vile man he was charming, unlike his foul son. "Well then, I must say you should learn to shop for shoes more carefully."

"I'm afraid since the death of my wife I've been forced to find my own shoes and I'm rather miserable at it. These ones pinch terribly." He sipped his champagne before turning back to her. "Now, that is a truly lovely dress, simply lovely darling."

"I've always enjoyed surprising people," she said.

"Well, you truly have succeeded tonight. I believe your dress is the talk of the season." He offered her his arm which she accepted slipping hers through his, a glint in his eye revealing that he was referring to the symbolism behind the color of her dress.

They began to walk towards one of the many balconies that allowed for more private conversations. "Just the season? I'll have to raise the stakes this January." She remarked, as they stepped out on to the balcony.

"You intend to move to the Purist party then?" He asked bluntly.

"A lady has to have her secrets. Although, I could be convinced to part with the name of the shop I purchased my rather lovely shoes from, if you're charming enough." She slipped her arm out of his and walked to the railing, enjoying the view of the gardens down below.

"Well, I simply must get that secret out of you!" He winked. "Still, not even a hint of your alignment, there's only two choices really."

"If you allow me to hide out here as long as is polite, I'll part with that secret. However, as to my seat, well you know as well as I that there are other options."

"You aren't foolish enough to take them. Being an independent seat is far too silly for someone of your talents and the Reformists survive only because of legal loopholes." He said, watching her with a glint of amusement in his eye.

"True enough," she said while taking a sip from her flute. "Now, you didn't kidnap me just to ask about my seat now did you?"

"Clever girl," He leaned onto the railing. "I was wondering if you'd be willing to take a lunch with me in the coming month? Since you're going to be entering the political arena, there are some introductions I'd like to make."

"Despite knowing I will undoubtedly oppose your agenda?" She asked curiously. This could be a golden opportunity to meet some of the other ambassadors in a setting where she was more than just a pretty face to them. Having Dante's introduction to his contacts was invaluable.

"Publically we may disagree, but I have no doubts you're going to be the one to know in the Wizengamot soon enough." He looked at her, his pleasant demeanor dropping, a serious look replacing it. "I make it my business to know the dangerous ones. The others out there are fools and we both know it."

Clarke let her smile drop away as well. "That's an awfully blasé way to speak of your allies." She remarked carefully.

"Allies," he scoffed, "they may be that, but they won't be running things in another ten years. All I ask, is that when you are in power you remember the favor I'm doing for you now."

"Ten years, you overestimate me," She replied.

"I don't think I do and I'm rarely wrong." His eyes stayed on her, clearly measuring her, before his smile returned and the serious air between them lifted. "Now, I do believe that my son is eagerly awaiting a dance with the most beautiful woman in the room."

Clarke forced a smile onto her face as well. "Well, we don't want to disappoint him now do we?" She slipped her arm back into his as he led her back into the ballroom.

She gritted her teeth together to mask her discomfort as Cage appeared at his father's elbow practically the moment they re-entered the room. "If I could have the pleasure of this dance," he said while bowing politely, his hand out.

She gently let her hand rest in his. "I'd love to." She'd sooner eat poison.

They made their way out onto the floor and joined the other dancing couples throughout the room. Once they were several steps into a waltz, he opened his mouth, unfortunately. "What were you and my father talking about?" He inquired.

"He was rather interested in where I get my shoes." She said, smiling at Kane over her dance partner's shoulder.

"Really, I'm surprised he didn't mention the honors our house received this past fall."

"I'm was already aware of them. I hear the most interesting things about your endeavors in Belgium." She felt his muscles go rigid under her hand. Good, he should feel bad about the unconscionable actions he took against magical creatures.

"Careful, you don't want to intrude on things you don't understand." He warned quietly, while a smile as fake as hers remained plastered on his face. His hand holding hers squeezed tighter.

"I wouldn't dream of it." She decided to get back at him. "Your father did mention at the minister's dinner party that you were looking for a suitable wife."

"What?" He hissed between his teeth.

"Oh yes, it's sweet that you only need the right woman to straighten you out. You should be careful or he might just choose the bride for you." She said, enjoying the way she could feel the rage wafting off his body.

"He's getting sentimental in his old age." Cage said shortly.

"Indeed, it must be a relief knowing your father can choose the perfect partner for you. What with him still holding the headship of your house." She remarked, digging the metaphorical dagger in further. She may not intend to make enemies, but Cage and her had hated each other for years and there was no repairing that rift. So, she was going to enjoy needling him while she could.

"I'm afraid I see someone I simply must speak to, if you'll excuse me." He separated from her giving a brief, barely there bow before leaving her at the side of the dance floor.

Well, that was positively rude she thought after rising from her perfectly polite curtsy. If only she could listen in, when Dante reminded Cage of his manners. Oh well, she'd had her fun. Looking to the side, she saw an auror who was struggling to keep a straight face, clearly having noticed Cage running from her like his pants were on fire. Clarke grabbed a new glass of champagne and made her way over to the auror. She turned so that she was standing next to the woman so it wouldn't be immediately obvious to others that she was speaking with her.

"Your cousin Aden speaks very highly of you." Clarke remarked, watching the various couples gliding across the floor together.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the auror shift slightly. "I'm surprised you know who I am."

Clarke took a sip of her champagne, glad she'd taken a potion before arriving that would make sure she didn't get drunk. "Lexa Trikru, head of the remains of your house, the awkward Hufflepuff with large glasses who liked studying and quidditch. I pay attention."

Lexa's eyebrows raised slightly in surprise. "Is that how you know my cousin? Because he hasn't mentioned you once."

"I'm afraid I know him from supervising a rather ridiculous number of detentions. Your family name does him no favors with the teachers," she replied. "You should ask him about muggle ethics, I've had him copying down volumes of the stuff."

They fell into a comfortable silence. Clarke enjoyed the brief moment of not politicking and Lexa could make a useful but also incredibly dangerous ally. So, she decided to tread carefully and get a feel for the older girl. They'd never really interacted when she was at Hogwarts. Different houses, years, and social circles.

"What did you say to get Cage to run away like that?" Lexa finally asked.

Clarke smirked, "I reminded him that his father would love nothing more than for the two of us to marry and that he would have no say in the matter."

Lexa just looked at her curiously and Clarke decided to expand for her. "Haven't you heard the gossip? I'm one of the most eligible bachelorettes in England at the moment. I've had six offers of marriage in the last year. Of course, it would be impolite to discuss who had sent them."

"Of course," Lexa's voice was dry and amused.

"Laugh all you want, if things had been different, this would be your curse." She remarked to the girl, who if her parents' rebellion had worked, would have been her equal or superior in social standing.

Lexa fell back into the formal stance her position as a guard at the gala dictated. Clarke took it as a sign that she had spoken to the woman as much as she was going to be able to tonight. Draining her glass, she moved to walk away but looked over her shoulder briefly. "Thank you for the conversation." She enjoyed the surprised expression on the auror's face as she made her way around the dance floor.

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

Clarke laughed, pretending to be engaged as Kane told a story about when he'd been a student and tried to buy an illegal dragon egg and ended up spending a night in the auror holding cells. It was a funny story. She'd just heard it more than a few times. She'd shared a dance with Jaha earlier where he'd not so subtly informed her he expected her to 'honor her father,' code for stay in his party. Of course, she'd assured him she would honor her father to the best of her abilities. He just didn't know how much he'd regret her doing so. Now, she had been pulled into a conversation with Kane and several of his supporters. Another hour and she should be able to politely leave having made the correct political impression.

Despite having upset the status quo slightly with her decision to take the family seat, they were all happily under the delusion she was just a teenager playing at politics. Of course, none of them would say that to her face, but it was clear that's what they thought. Everything was going according to plan. They needed to keep that impression as long as possible. Glancing around, she saw a clearly tipsy Dax making his way towards her. She felt her eyes widen and her mouth open slightly in surprise, he couldn't possibly be stupid enough to start something in public like this?

Apparently he was, because he was coming straight for her and did not look happy. Her conversation partners had fallen silent as he joined their circle without an invitation. Dax was from the noble house of Trip. They weren't an old or a wealthy house. However, the Trips were numerous and were pure blooded for the most part. At Hogwarts, he was referred to by his first name due to there being several cousins also attending from lesser branches. Using his first name set him apart. His father was the department head of the Muggle Affairs office, which gave them some status, but not much. If the proposed marriage arrangement between her and Dax had gone through, he would have taken her name and married into her family.

Considering he had clearly had a bit too much to drink and had just barged into a conversation between socially higher ranked purebloods, he'd just stepped on quite few toes. The situation was still recoverable if he kept his mouth shut. Clarke willed him to apologize and turn around. Sadly, he didn't understand or ignored her silent communication with him.

"You can't avoid my questions forever, Clarke." He stated, staring down at her from his superior height.

Clarke internally scrambled for a way to mitigate the disaster that was about to take place. Reaching out to touch his arm so she could steer him away, she spoke carefully and politely. "I'd be happy to talk with you about it tomorrow."

He jerked his arm out of her grip. "DON'T TOUCH ME!" He shouted.

"Alright," She raised her hands to pacify him. "Why don't we step out onto the balcony so we can speak privately then?"

"No! Then they won't know what you did!" He accused.

By now, almost every eye in the room was focused on the disturbance. Kane looked horrified as did his supporters that were standing next to him. He looked like he wanted to intervene but was unsure of how to do it.

"Dax, I haven't done anything to you." She said carefully.

"Not to me, to Shumway! I know you and your little boy toy did something to him." He accused.

"What?" She asked in total disbelief, he couldn't be serious. Though he had no evidence to accuse her with, this was a dangerous line of questioning if anyone took him seriously.

"You and Blake, all cozy and sneaking around." He sneered. "What do you pay him to whore himself to you?"

"You should mind your place." Kane said, stepping in between him and Clarke.

"It's alright Kane." She laid a hand on his shoulder till he stepped back. "Dax, I don't even know Blake outside of seeing him in the halls and the ridiculous amount of detentions I've supervised for him." She plastered a look of complete confusion on her face. "Shumway left on a research trip to Africa. I'm sorry if he hasn't written you, but I only know what Sydney told us."

"Liar!" His fists were clenched. "You act like you're so much better than the rest of us but I know what you really are." He snarled.

Before Clarke could say anything in return to him, she saw a hand clasp down on the boy's arm. "I believe you've had too much to drink. Why don't you just follow me." A cold and even voice came from behind him.

Clarke was surprised to see Lexa standing there glaring down Dax. Then again, it made sense, Dax was causing a scene and as an auror she wouldn't want to let it escalate any further.

"Thank you, escort this foul young man out." Kane said from his position next to Clarke.

"Of course, come on." Lexa half dragged, half led a clearly uncooperative Dax out. Clarke could tell he'd been hit with a silencing spell since his mouth was moving angrily and no sound was coming out.

"That was simply dreadful." Kane waved a waiter with a tray of elvish wine over and pressed a glass into Clarke's hand. "To think, he had the gall to question your honor."

"He's been obsessed since the engagement fell through." Clarke explained, leaving out that she'd informed her mother if she dared engage her to anyone she'd disown her from the house the day she turned seventeen. All marriage talks between her mother and suitable matches had ended immediately. Now that she was the head of the family, as a legal adult and the last Griffin by blood, an unwanted marriage wasn't a risk anymore.

"These things happen. I'll be sure Jaha never allows the boy entry to the ministry ever again." Kane assured her warmly.

"That's not necessary. Truly, he'd had too much to drink and is still disappointed by how the negotiations went. I'm sure that given time he'll redeem himself. After all, cutting out a promising member of a good family shouldn't be done over a single mistake. Boys will be boys. Or weren't you just telling us how you spent a night in a holding cell for black-market dragon shenanigans when you were his age." She drank from her glass of wine hoping she had helped smooth things over appropriately. The attention of the room was falling back to the party and not the drama happening around her.

"You are far too forgiving," Kane said. "However, if that is what you wish?"

"It is, if you'll excuse me, I should make sure that Lord and Lady Trip don't fear their son's behavior will affect my investments in Lady Trip's tea shop." She curtsied and managed to break away from the sympathetic and over eager condolences of the group.

The Trips were nearly hysterical in distress over their son's action and begged her forgiveness. Clarke easily gave it and assured them that she didn't hold a grudge. It took a good fifteen minutes of reassuring the nearly weeping Lady Trip and a flushed with embarrassment Lord Trip before she was able to escape them.

Her escape came in the form of catching sight of the coach of the Appleby Arrows, Gregory Cotton, stuffing his face with chocolate truffles off a tray he'd clearly stolen from a waiter. Clarke quickly made her excuses and left the Trip's to worry about their son, who was clearly suffering from some sort of psychological break, and made her way to Cotton.

"Mr. Cotton." She greeted, enjoying watching his eyes bug nearly out of his head and guiltily look at the tray of chocolates before offering it to her with a sheepish smile.

"Lady Griffin." He said, wiping the smeared chocolate off his face with a napkin and then stuffing the napkin behind a nearby curtain.

"I see you have the right idea about these events." She said, smiling at him mischievously.

"Well, that is… They're dreadfully boring for us common folk." He sighed, letting his shoulders slump.

She laughed honestly for the first time that night. "Would you do me the honor of this dance?" She winked. "Save me from terribly boring conversation."

He grinned, offering his hand. "I'd love to, but I have to warn you I'll almost certainly step on your feet."

Clarke easily took his hand and allowed him to lead her to the dance floor where they joined the other dancing pairs. "If you step on them less than my last partner, I think we'll get along swimmingly."

"If you don't mind my asking, is there a reason you wanted to dance with me?" He asked curiously.

She understood his question. After all, she'd never showed any interest in the team outside of maintaining ownership in honor of her father. "I actually was wondering about the player recruitment that's coming up. It's been explained to me that some of the best players in the sport aren't being pulled up for the professional circuit."

Cotton nodded seriously. "Yes, sponsors don't want muggleborns without any name value on the team. I'm sure you can understand. You just never know if they'll decide to go back to where they came from and leave the team short a player."

"But some of them are quite talented?" She asked carefully.

"Of course, and their contracts would be dead cheap to buy but if we lose our sponsors we could lose our team." He explained, looking rather forlorn at the prospect of missing out on talented players.

"That is quite the conundrum. I'll ask around, I'm sure we could find a solution if we put our heads together. The team is only coming in sixth in the league right now and I'd like for us to win next season." She said, enjoying watching his brilliant grin at the thought of winning.


	20. Chapter 20

Merlin, it was good to be back at Hogwarts! Bellamy was excitedly making his way up to the tower and planning on finding his sister and hugging the stuffing out of her. They hadn't been separated for this long since his first years at Hogwarts before she'd been able to come along. Seeing her Christmas day at the Monroe family Christmas party hadn't been enough. He'd spent the entirety of break sneaking around dodgy neighborhoods recruiting and hunting down possible safe houses and applying for jobs post Hogwarts. It was a busy break, good but exhausting.

He had managed to teach Clarke the basics of poker though and he was expecting her to clean up if he ever took her to a muggle establishment. She'd been hiding out in his room at the Leaky Cauldron surprisingly often. He'd even had the chance to hear the rare admittance that she'd been wrong. He was never letting her live that down. Clark had always contended that Dax was just a schoolyard bully, but apparently Dax had gone bat-shit crazy insane at the gala. Speaking of which, he had some really excellent idea's for crashing the gala next year.

The portrait was already open as he came bounding up the stairs. He dumped his stuff in his room and quickly went searching for his sister. He found her in the classroom they had appropriated for themselves as a meeting place for the rebellion. Grinning, he jumped through the door and honed in on his sister. She and Raven were both huddled over a pile of papers on some desks that had been pushed together, clearly very interested in what they were discussing. That didn't stop him and he didn't even bother announcing himself, he just grabbed his sister and spun her around. Octavia let out a sudden shriek and started laughing. Hearing his sister laugh filled Bellamy with joy.

"You ass!" Octavia laughed as he set her down, before slugging him in the arm.

He smiled widely ignoring the pain in his arm. "Tell me everything!"

Octavia rolled her eyes. "Sure thing your highness, want a cup of tea while we're at it?"

"Tea would be lovely." He laughed before ducking a stinging hex aimed for his head. "Sorry, sorry." He raised his hands in surrender.

"You better be." She threatened.

"Not that this sibling reunion isn't touching," Raven piped up, "but you guys are messed up."

"You're just jealous of our hotness." Octavia said flicking her hair over her shoulder.

"As if," Raven said gesturing to herself. "I mean have you seen me?"

Bellamy interrupted before Octavia could reply. "Wait, since when are you two best friends?"

"We've spent a lot of time together this month." Raven said smirking at him.

Bellamy's older brother instincts pinged, odd things happened around Raven and he had heard about the potions disaster that had started her friendship with Clarke. Before he could follow that line of thought, Octavia chucked a pillow at Raven's head. "Don't go putting ideas in his head. He's bad enough as it is. Or do you want us to have to sneak around to do your crazy experiments?"

"But watching him squirm is magical." Raven said.

"If my sister gets hurt." Bellamy said with a threatening growl before crossing his arms and glaring at Raven.

Raven laughed. "He's as easy to rile up as you said he was O."

"She's just jerking your chain Bell." Octavia said patting his shoulder fondly.

Bellamy sighed and rolled his eyes. He didn't understand girls. "So you didn't get up to anything dangerous?"

Raven and Octavia both avoided his eyes and shifted guiltily.

"What did you do?" He asked carefully.

"You see, the Room of Requirement is really cool, and I'm working on a way to use muggle tech to streamline the process of magical enchantment." Raven said

"There were only a few explosions." Octavia added helpfully.

Bellamy felt his face go white. He knew he was going to go grey before he hit twenty, he just knew it. Between Octavia and now this rebellion, he was going to have a heart attack. "Explosions!?"

"They weren't even that big." Raven said waving off his concern.

He felt himself wheeze and squeaked, "Not that big?"

"It's so cool Bell! Muggle tech can apply runes to items and then anyone can add the magical imprint to them." Octavia explained.

"Explosions?" He insisted.

"You know magic messes with muggle tech. I was hoping the Room of Requirement would be able to bypass that, but the embroidery machine wouldn't run. I want to use muggle embroidery machines to automate making runes. We're trying to find a way to magically power the

machines. It's a bit tricky, but if we can figure it out the opportunities are limitless!" Raven enthused.

He opened and closed his mouth a few times. "Explosions?"

"Don't worry, we'll explain it to you later." Octavia comforted slapping his back. "But enough about our adventures, is the new defense professor really Miller's dad? Does this mean we have to call Miller Nathan now?"

The girls seemed to be overlooking some rather serious and obvious concerns here. "Explosions!"

"I think we broke him." Raven remarked before falling back onto one of the couches they had dragged into the room. "Where did you guys find these couches? They are the comfiest ones around. The couches in in the Ravenclaw common rooms are like sitting on boards, totally not fair."

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

Bellamy moved easily through the halls with Miller and Monroe. At the beginning of the year Clarke had ensured that every prefect was provided with a lovely patrol map that showed where all of the teachers and prefects would be patrolling and when. Though it was meant as an aid for the organization and scheduling of patrols, Bellamy and his friends used it as a handy by the hour map of where to go and not go to avoid detention after hours. He was starting to realize that the creation and use of the maps by the prefects and teachers wasn't an accident. Clarke really was quite manipulative. Really, they should have seen her being a rule breaker the second Monroe got that map. Shaking his head, he concentrated on avoiding disturbing any of the paintings as they moved. The paintings tended towards ignoring students unless they upset them. Waking a sleeping portrait was a one way ticket to being snitched on. Coming to the door to the defense office, he cast a silent privacy charm before knocking and heading in followed by his friends.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Professor Miller asked from where he was seated behind his desk. "Nathan," he acknowledged his son.

Monroe closed the door, casting a detection spell to ensure that they were not being spied on as she did so. Bellamy and Miller made their way in front of the man's desk. "We figured we should talk to you before the first day of classes."

Professor Miller's eyes narrowed with suspicion at the casting of the detection spell. "If you think you're going to get special treatment out of me because you had something to do with my getting the job, you can turn right back around and leave."

"Dad," Miller admonished.

"We don't want special treatment Professor." Bellamy said. He ran a hand through his hair, he wished Clarke had beat them here instead of the other way round. "We wanted to introduce you to the person who secured you that post and explain why we need you."

The professor frowned leaning his elbows on his desk. "I assumed you went through Cartwig's niece? Why else would a member of the Wizengamot sponsor my application?"

"Thalia? Naw, I mean I'm sure she helped but she's not the one pulling the strings." Monroe said snorting at the thought of the proper Slytherin who was friends with Clarke.

Bellamy tilted his head. "Actually that helps explain how she got that sponsorship so fast now that I think about it."

"Look, kids. I'll turn a blind eye to the breaking of curfew this once, but you need to get back to your dorm." Professor Miller said seriously, standing up.

"Wait, just hear us out." Bellamy said, internally cursing that Clarke wasn't there yet.

The door opened letting the familiar Slytherin in, her hair pulled back into a messy bun, her wand held loosely in her hand as she placed in in a pocket in her robes. "Sorry I'm late, I got caught up in some house politics."

Bellamy frowned. "Any members of your house going to be shunned and stripped of their colors again?" He asked genuinely curious.

"What? No, just dealing with the rumors about me taking the family seat. As I'm sure you can imagine, it has caused quite a stir in Slytherin. Nothing I can't deal with though." She waved it off dismissively before walking forward. Holding out her hand she spoke. "It's a pleasure to meet you Professor Miller. I'm Clarke Griffin, head girl."

It was interesting and mostly amusing for Bellamy to watch the way the professor's spine straightened as he took her hand shaking it. His face that before had been tired and slightly suspicious was almost instantly filled with a respectful wariness. He obviously knew that she was someone to treat with caution.

"Likewise Miss. Griffin." He said warily. "What brings you here?"

"I'll be blunt professor, I was happy to use my influence to help get you a sponsorship because we need your help. That said, if you wish to simply teach we'll leave you to that task. We are not trying to blackmail you." Clarke said calmly, leaving her hands at her side noticeably empty, Bellamy wondered at her dramatic flair.

"What exactly is it that you want? What have you gotten my son and his friends into?" Professor Miller asked looking around skeptically at the group.

"The bullying of the students of mixed blood has gotten out of hand. I can only do so much as head girl, Bellamy likewise can only do so much to protect his fellows." Clarke replied easily.

Bellamy looked at Clarke curiously before speaking up on his own. "She's right, things have been getting violent and the staff couldn't give less of a shit about us."

"You want me to believe you got a muggleborn professor hired to help with the bullying?" The man crossed his arms. "You know the students who are a problem won't respect or listen to me."

Clarke sighed. "Of course, but if you are half as talented and fair minded as your son describes you, it won't take you long to be accepted by most of the students here. Maybe not respected, but listened to at least. Besides, even as a teacher there is only so much you could do to help with things outside of your classroom. What we want you to do, Professor, is teach the muggleborn and mixed blood students how to defend themselves." Clarke said, staring down the taller man.

His brows furrowed, "You expect me to believe you're a champion of muggleborn rights?"

"She's not lying." Miller said calmly from where he had been standing quietly.

Clarke raised her hand. "It's a fair question." Clarke reached out and gripped Bellamy's shoulder.

Bellamy looked at her curiously but let her pull him next to her.

"Take Bell here for example." Clarke began. "By traditional definition he's a pureblood. After all his grandparents were all magical. But because his mother was a squib he's considered a halfblood." Clarke released him.

"I have never been called a traditional pureblood." Bellamy said looking at her in confusion.

Clarke just rolled her eyes. "Or Fox, from my house, she's a pureblood but looked down on because she's a 'new' blood, two of her grandparents were muggleborn." Clarke scoffed, "Or Reyes who is honestly the most brilliant student these halls have seen in years but she's treated like dirt because her mother is a muggle and her father most likely was one as well." She motioned to those who came with her. "Everyone here but me has faced bullying and discrimination because of their blood status. The focus on blood is ridiculous, we don't even have terms for magicals of mixed blood. We know and have known for generations that lineage has nothing to do with intelligence or magical ability except in cases of extreme inbreeding. Our society is killing itself with prejudice. Your son and his friends are right, we can't stand by and

wait for things to change."

Professor Miller remained silent watching her for a moment. "What exactly do you want?"

Bellamy picked up before Clarke could speak, she looked tired and frustrated, a bad mix for her he was learning quickly. "We're starting a tutoring program. It'll allow us to work with and better prepare the kids without pure blood. However, we need a teacher capable of helping without prejudice and able to train the kids to protect themselves."

"This was all about getting me to help with a tutoring program?" The man looked confused and incredulous.

"No," Clarke said simply. "It's about more, but we don't expect you to be open to the rest till you are sure that our aims are genuine. The first tutoring session is tomorrow in the old study hall."

The professor came to a decision. "I'll be there."

"Good," Clarke smiled genuinely at the man before turning to Bellamy and grinning.

He smiled back, things were falling into place, "You have to go don't you?" He asked recognizing the look on her face. He knew her patrol schedule and knew she couldn't afford to be gone for much longer.

She nodded tiredly, "Unfortunately, don't get caught would you I don't feel like supervising any detentions this week."

Bellamy laughed as she made her way out of the room before glancing at the confounded looking professor clearly still trying to process what had just happened. He sympathized, Clarke was like a damn hurricane. "Shield charms would probably be a good place to start tomorrow. It's moderately flashy and useful."

"I'm capable of teaching my own classes Mr. Blake." The man said.

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

Bellamy had, like any person, pictured the future on multiple occasions. None of his dreams had included staring at twelve first years with parchment and quills out eagerly waiting to take notes from a tutor on history who wasn't Binns. He cleared his throat awkwardly. "So the test you have this week is on the rivalry between Merlin and Morgana. Who can tell me what magical innovation made Merlin one of the most important wizards in history?"

Scanning, he saw a frizzy haired girl with large eyes raise her hand cautiously. He gestured at her, "Yes, you."

Her skin darkened as the attention of the group focused on her, but she still spoke up. "Merlin was the first magical person to use wood to channel magic. While his staff was bulky the added power and control it allowed him established the basis for what is today the wand."

"Very good," Bellamy smiled proudly, clearly they'd been listening to him somewhat. "Now what branch of magic was Morgana famous for?" He spotted a chubby boy in the middle of the group raising his hand. "Go for it."

"She used runes to increase the length of enchantments and amplify the power in them….?" He ended pitching his voice up in question.

"Exactly." He reached out and fluffed up the kid's hair. "The reason these two were in competition was that they both revolutionized the power and efficacy of magic. So, next time you use your wand or when you start taking Runes in third year, remember why we have these tools for directing our magic." He clapped his hands together. "Before your exam you'll all want to reread pages 160 through 172. There is also a book you can get here in the library to fill any blanks you may still have called "The Rivalry of the Ages." He had loved that book when he was a first year. "Now off you go, Finn's station is ready to help you review your charm work."

Breathing a deep sigh of relief he checked the room where the first official tutoring session was meeting. It was an old study hall that had been unused for centuries, he shuddered a bit at how much work the school elves had to have put into cleaning the place for them. Since it was the first meeting, nobody had been given a partner or ward to work with yet. Instead the upper years were assisting each other and the younger years with the last of their holiday homework. There were just over a hundred students only forty or so that were members of the rebellion. It had been his idea to bring the rebellion into this slowly. So far it had been a success.

"Good job Blake." Clarke's voice came from behind him.

"Griffin." He acknowledged knowing he couldn't greet her as familiarly as he had grown used to over the break given the others around.

She smiled at him slightly, "I'm surprised you're so good with the kids. Would you be willing to run a history tutoring group at our weekly meetings for the remainder of the year?" She brandished her clipboard and quill. "It would look excellent on any future resumes you may have."

He had to force himself not to laugh since that had been their plan from the beginning, but he had a part to play, not to mention Clarke would murder him if he screwed this up. "I can do that. Do you know which kids I'll be mentoring?"

Clarke rolled her eyes while marking something down on her clipboard. "Tutoring partnerships will be posted in the common rooms before our next session."

"Can't you cheat and tell me who I'm gonna get princess?" He grinned at her.

A slightly exasperated sigh escaped her. "Partnerships haven't been made yet. Over the course of the week students grades and various areas of difficulty and interest will be matched with what tutors we feel can best help them. However, since we're having open study sessions all week we can expect more students each night. So, no I can't tell you because I don't know."

He gave a mock salute. "Well thanks for giving me a class anyways Princess." He turned on his heel and sauntered over to where Raven was helping some third years with their runes homework.

"Reyes!" He greeted cheerfully before hopping up on top of an empty desk near her.

She raised a brow at him. "Blake, shouldn't you be helping the kids with Goblin wars or something?"

"Naw, they just had an essay on Merlin and Morgana's rivalry. Easy stuff there. Gave them a brief overview and some resources. How are your kids doing?"

Raven glanced at her students who were ignoring him and diligently copying their rune charts. "Quite well, but then the subject is more practice and less lecture." Tilting her head to the side, she seemed to consider that. "At least in the first year of study. The interesting theories and magical matrices don't come till fifth year."

"You scare me, you know that?" He asked while observing her glee at the complicated theorems.

"And you're a wuss." She informed him before leaning over the shoulder of one of her students, "You have to extend this line here or it won't channel anything." She pointed at the rune that had obviously been written incorrectly.

"So you and my sister are friends now then?" He asked carefully.

Raven ruffled her student's hair as she straightened back up. "She is my favorite Blake. But yeah, we spent most of the holidays in the restricted section and exploring."

"If my sister gets in trouble because of you…" He trailed off making sure his threat was implied.

Raven just scoffed. "You should be happy Blake, I'll teach your sister how to blow any unwanted boys up without any of it being traced back to her." She crossed her arms staring at him right back refusing to back down.

"Can you really do that?!" One of her students was looking up at Raven with stars in her eyes.

Bellamy looked at the dark skinned girl in Slytherin robes and felt a chill run up and down his spine. There was no way a Slytherin learning how to discretely blow people up was a good thing.

"Of course I can, and the sooner you master the runic alphabet and spelling schemes the sooner I can teach you how to as well." Raven puffed up her chest in pride.

The girl and the rest of the students all stared at Raven like she was the answer to their prayers before turning back to their rune charts with enthusiasm.

Bellamy opened his mouth to suggest that maybe teaching thirteen year olds how to blow each other up wasn't a good idea, he stopped with his mouth half open. Since when was he the responsible one? It was like the world had been turned on it's head.

"Blake!" Clarke appeared next to him with an unimpressed look on her face. "Stop bothering Raven and go back to your station." She raised her hand and pointed.

Grumbling under his breath, he did as told. After all, this tutoring stuff was the first step in a war. Glancing at Finn, who was happily demonstrating how to float several items at once, he glowered. Why that peacock had to be an integral part of this system he didn't know. Sadly, thanks to the hair incident he'd been banned by Clarke from speaking to or interacting with the idiot. Sometimes life was unfortunate.

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

"So why did we all get stationary?" Monroe asked at breakfast the next morning. She was writing a letter to her mother on a piece of the embossed stationery that every member of the rebellion had gotten for Christmas.

"Pureblood thing." Harper said between bites of egg. "Means she thinks we're becoming friends or acquaintances or something."

"I don't understand purebloods." Monroe said under her breath with a shake of her head before dipping her quill back in her ink pot.

Bellamy shifted slightly at the thought of the gold embossed fountain pen he'd gotten. He was afraid to use it and it was still in its box. The idea of how much it had to have cost made him feel a cold sweat at the idea of using it. Maybe he should use it just to show he appreciated the gift...but it seemed sacrilegious somehow. "At least the paper is useful." He muttered before stuffing his piece of toast into his mouth.

"What'd you get?" Monroe asked looking at him curiously.

Bellamy chewed slowly in an effort to avoid answering. Octavia elbowed him causing him to

grunt before answering for him. "She got him a fancy ass fountain pen. He's scared to touch it."

"That's not too bad, she could have gotten him a new set of robes or something." Sterling said before dropping down besides Harper and reaching for the coffee pot.

"Hey!" Bellamy exclaimed indignant. "I can get my own robes thank you very much."

"You really can't." Roma inserted from her place across the table. "I mean used robes are used robes, but you have two different shades of black going on right now and that's just your uniform."

"You're just jealous of my smoking hot looks." He snarked back deciding to have Octavia help him with clothing next time he had to get some.

"As if," Roma flipped her hair. "You can't even touch my good looks."

"Would you two stop it." Octavia snapped. "Really, the weird thing you've had going on since you broke up is weird."

"You realize you just said weird twice right?" Harper asked.

"Yes, it deserved to be stated twice." Octavia rolled her eyes. "What do you guy's think Defense is going to be like today?"

"Professor Miller seems professional." Bellamy added in support.

Miller looked up from his porridge for the first time with tired eyes. "Dad'll do good. Try not to kill him on accident."

"I take offense at that." Octavia said while reaching out and spearing a sausage and moving it to her plate.

"Sweet Merlin!" A fifth year from down the table exclaimed.

Bellamy and the rest all looked at what had caught the kid's attention. It didn't take long to see Clarke entering the great hall in formal Wizengamot robes as she headed for her spot at the Slytherin table. A wave of whispers erupted as the houses other than Slytherin spotted her. Bellamy blinked at the formal plum robes and at her hair carefully cascading over her right shoulder. There was golden embroidery around the sleeves and neck that stood out. He wasn't sure of the significance of it but he had no doubt it was important. Clarke was going to her first meeting of the Wizengamot today and they had talked a bit about all the implications of wearing her robes to breakfast. Swallowing his piece of toast, he pulled his JEM off his wrist and concentrated on a message. ' _CG, Good Luck, BB._ '

The whispering faded out as students went back to their earlier conversations. He continued to watch Clarke until he saw her casually check her pocket watch and a smile flicker across her face. He caught her eye as she looked up. She gave him a nod before turning to a conversation with her two Slytherin friends Fox and Thalia.

"That is weird to see." Monroe said. "Like I knew it was gonna happen but still…" She trailed off.

"We're starting then." Octavia said with a gleam in her eye.


	21. Chapter 21

Clarke sipped her coffee having to focus on not letting her hands shake. Wearing the heavy plum robes with the golden embroidery indicating the hereditary nature of her seat weighed down on her. In some ways, it had been a concept alone until this moment. Eating was difficult but necessary. She'd already taken a calming draught that morning before leaving her dorm room.

"So, who's face do you think is going to be the most amusing when you reveal your party affiliation?" Thalia asked from across the table.

Fox poured herself some pumpkin juice while replying. "My money's on Jaha."

Clarke had to actively try not to snort the coffee she was drinking out her nose. The image of Jaha's face when she didn't designate her seat for the Traditionalist party would be priceless. A deep and vindictive part of her was going to cherish the memory of the shock on his traitorous face. "I'm sure it will be worth remembering." She was aware that every ear at the table was tuned into her conversation.

"That's an understatement." Thalia chuckled. "Do tell my aunt hello for me would you?"

"Of course, your parents will come around." Clarke said. She disliked how the Cartwig family had dealt with Calli refusing to marry for political gain. Of course, Calli was head of family and Thalia's parent's disapproval meant very little in the grand scheme of things, but she knew Thalia liked her aunt and missed seeing her.

Thalia shrugged. "I'm not sure why they want her to marry for the betterment of the family so badly. My brother will be head of family one day as long as Calli doesn't have an heir herself."

Clarke snorted. "Your brother's approach of hiding out in South America looking for exotic magical creatures is understandable. He'll abdicate the role and relinquish it to you, if he hasn't gone and disgraced the family and been disowned before the day comes."

Fox laughed. "Is he still dating that Nymph he was traveling with during the summer?"

"Yes, to the great shame of the family." Thalia said seriously, though her eyes were twinkling with mirth.

"I'm sure he'll see sense or be removed, but well he's young and some adventure and foolishness is to be expected." Clarke said, privately knowing that Thalia's brother would leave his adventures the day he died and not a moment sooner. Still, talking with her friends, she could feel her nerves settling and allowed herself the distraction.

"Sup bitches!" Raven proclaimed before sitting down at the table heavily. Up and down the table eyebrows raised at the unprecedented sight of a Ravenclaw muggleborn sitting at the Slytherin table. Raven cheerfully ignored them and offered her raven Poe some bacon as he sat on her

shoulder.

"Reyes, what are you doing?" Fox asked in surprise, clearly startled by the girl's daring.

Raven loaded up a plate with food while replying. "I figure as Princess here's pet muggleborn, I should get to see if the food over here is as good as it is at my table. I've recently realized Gryffindor tower has the most comfortable couches known to magical kind."

Clarke sighed, she really couldn't afford to deal with any Slytherin drama but at the same time she refused to be rude to her friend. She shot a pointed look at Thalia. Clearly, she got the message because she set a mug of coffee down in front of Raven.

"I see Poe is doing well." Clarke remarked.

Raven scratched the bird's head. "He's lazy is what he is."

Fox tilted her head, looking at the bird before shifting her attention back to Raven. "So, you're still planning on helping me with my essay on runes in the 3rd century after lunch right?"

"Sure, Thalia want to join us?" Raven offered before taking a bit of sausage.

"That would be useful actually, if you don't mind." Thalia replied.

A throat cleared slightly from down the table. Clarke was surprised to see Ontari watching them carefully. "Is that offer of help with runes available to others?" Her body posture was subdued and cautious.

Clarke watched Raven's reaction thoughtfully. This was an opportunity but she couldn't be the one to take it. Raven blinked at the girl for a few seconds, her mouth slightly open before Poe pecked the side of her head. Shaking herself back into the moment, Raven nodded. "Yeah, you can join us if you want."

Ontari nodded sharply. "Until later then."

It was hard not to laugh at Raven's expression, it said clearly what none of them could say out loud 'Did one of the most bigoted up and coming Slytherins really just ask a mudblood for help?' Instead, Clarke just finished her last bite of muffin and stood. "Well, with that, I'm afraid I have places to be."

"Good luck," Fox said seriously, while Thalia nodded her agreement.

"Give them hell Princess!" Raven grinned.

"I'll do my best." Clarke smirked fondly at her friends before turning and heading towards the exit. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Dax getting up and following her. Lifting her eyes to the enchanted ceiling, she prayed he at least waited till they were in private to say whatever it was he was going to be saying. It seemed magic was with her because he didn't close in on her till she was into the hall outside of the great hall.

"Griffin," He demanded.

Turning, she looked at him expectantly. "What do you want Dax?"

His face was contorted with anger and ugliness. "You think you're so great don't you?! But I know what you are."

"And what's that Dax?" She asked tiredly. Bellamy was right, the boy was becoming unhinged and it was getting to the point she was going to have to bring it up to Sydney soon.

"You and your little friends are murderers." He snapped. "I know you had something to do with Shumway, and I'm going to prove it!"

"Dax, Shumway left. I'm sorry he didn't tell you first, but he left. Sydney received his resignation letter. It's not like he just vanished into midair." She was genuinely curious how the boy had gotten so close to the truth.

"He wouldn't have left me!" Dax raised his voice nearly shouting.

Clarke noticed the way his eyes were bloodshot, his hair unruly, and his shirt wrinkled. It was unlike him. Softening her face, she spoke carefully. "Dax what's going on with you?"

His hands were clenching uselessly by his sides. "You're a filthy mudblood lover, don't pretend you care about your better. Blood traitor!"

Clarke startled back, that answered the question of whether there was an amicable way to deal with this. Narrowing her eyes, she drew herself up. "Careful Dax, I've been forgiving, but that won't last forever."

"And at last, your true nature shows itself. Go play at power Griffin, you're a shame to your blood." He snarled before turning on his heel and storming away.

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

Striding through the atrium, Clarke kept her head held high and her face unapproachable. She could hear the whispers and see out of the corner of her eyes as people stopped and glanced. The Wizengamot was small and members kept their seats for decades, so she stood out as

she entered the ministry. The fountain like the ministry itself made a mockery of the idea of magical cooperation. It pretended to show the all-inclusive nature of the ministry while actually showing the subjugation of those the ministry saw as lesser beings. It stood proud and glittering in the center of the commons of the ministry. She felt it brace her, as it always did, by making her bristle with indignation. That fountain would not stand for long and it would be replaced with something that symbolized the truer sort of magical cooperation that she planned on establishing. This was the first major step to that uncertain future. Without breaking stride, she made it to the lift and let the doors swish closed.

The long hallways were easy enough to make her way through as she joined other members of the Wizengamot on their way in for the first meeting of the year. She saw Callie, in her own plum robes, gesture for her to join her and Kane. Making her way over, she smiled politely.

"Lady Cartwig, Lord Kane, it's a pleasure to see you." She greeted.

"You're making me feel old." Kane said with a sigh. "You youngsters already getting involved."

"You say that like you weren't barely older than me when you took your seat." She replied easily.

Kane shrugged looking a bit sheepish. "So, planning on telling us what color your seat will be by the end of your swearing in ceremony? Last chance before the moment is upon us."

Callie managed to look remarkably uninformed as she added in, "Will we be getting to work more closely with you than we have with your mother?"

"Undoubtedly," Clarke said. "After all, it is my opinion that one shouldn't allow political affiliation to hinder good conversation."

"You just have to stay mysterious don't you?" Kane said.

Clarke shook her head lightly. "Well, what sort of teenager would I be without a little drama?"

Her companions let out some polite laughter while out of the corner of her eye she saw Indra Woods giving her a dark look. She flashed a quick smile at the prickly member of the old guard before returning her attention to Kane and his small talk. Getting the cooperation of the Reformist party, which contained the political remnants of the old rebellion, would be difficult. Her ruse of youthful arrogance and foolishness would make her the antithesis of what they respected. It would be an uphill battle and she had few ideas on how to tackle it. She had time though, and Indra and the others of that small contingent were smart, they should be able to see through her ruse, after all they survived supporting the last rebellion that had been attempted.

"So, tell me how are your classes going?" Kane said, bringing the conversation back.

"Oh, you don't care about my classes Kane." She laughed lightly. "Tell me, I heard you've been spending a lot of time at a muggle cafe recently?"

He sighed. "I should never underestimate your knowledge of the latest gossip." He shook his head fondly. "Muggles may be our inferiors but they can make a truly delectable panini."

Clarke went to reply, but was stopped by the sound of the door leading into the Wizengamot chambers opening up. The plum robed members made their way into the chamber along with the photographer and reporter from the Prophet that always attended. A few ministry secretaries and various bit players in the ministry as well made their way into where the meeting would be held. She took a steadying breath before following the crowd into the room.

The sweeping manner in which the Wizengamot chamber had been built was designed to engender shock and awe. The dark colors and rich wood gave a sense of age and grandeur. The hereditary seats completed a circle that defined the chamber's shape. Those original ornately carved seats dated from when the original treaty between the old families had led to the creation of the Wizengamot. Clarke had read about the room but entering it for the first time had an unexpected effect on her. Emotion rose within her, this was a room that her ancestors helped build and represented a legacy that every generation of her family since had a part in furthering. The importance of her legacy struck her in a way it never had before today. Her father had done honor to the Griffin name by championing the rights of half-bloods and muggleborns. Today Clarke was reclaiming the honorable position of her family that her mother had so degraded. This was her path to honoring her heritage and the birthright they'd left for her.

Coming back to the present, Clarke made her way to her family seat. Her family name 'Griffin' was embossed on the front of her seat. Her family coat of arms was glittering slightly as a background behind the center of the name. Taking her new seat, she let her fingers run along the old wood of her desk top.

The formal chambers were different from the courtrooms where court cases were brought to the Wizengamot for judgement. Clarke had visited the courtrooms a few times with Wells to get an idea of what trials were like, but she had been unable to visit the formal chambers of the Wizengamot until she was of age. The room was circular and divided into four sections. Three of the sections were filled with three rows of seats. The hereditary seats formed the top row. The two rows of seats below were built when elected members were added to the Wizengamot. Above these formal seating sections for Wizengamot members, was a gallery with seating for those who came to view the Wizengamot sessions but had no official business there.

The fourth section was a raised dais that held a formal seat for the Head of the Wizengamot and a place for the Memory Keeper. The dais, additionally, provided space for formal presentations and speeches. Today it was configured with a podium that Clark would stand before when she was presented and took her oath of office. Jaha was already sitting in his seat as the Head of the Wizengamot.

As she looked around the chamber taking in all the details that couldn't be described on paper, Clarke noticed her mother sitting in the gallery not far above her trying to get her attention. Clarke let out an exasperated sigh and acknowledged her mother with a nod. One of the hardest things about playing the young idealist tilting at dragons was tolerating the hypocrisy of her mother's attempts to manipulate her. For now, it was to her advantage to be underestimated, but in time she would be able to drop her mask and show her true drive to end the tyranny of the bigots leading their society. Deciding not to give her mother a further thought, Clarke looked away and focused on her agenda for the day.

Reaching into the enchanted inner pocket of her robe, Clarke pulled out her folder of official documents. Setting the heavy leather folder down, she opened it and thumbed through it, quickly reassuring herself she had everything in order. There was a rustling as the other members did the same. Far too soon though, Jaha was banging his gavel to begin the meeting.

"I bring this first meeting of the year to order at 10'oclock January the 5th." He declared formally as the room fell silent. "The first order of business today is the swearing in of our newest member. Lady Clarke Griffin, if you would approach."

Clarke stood and stepped out from behind her new seat and made her way down to the open central area of the chamber and then up to the dais approaching the podium. Keeping her face blank and head raised, she came to a stop. "Present your lordship."

Jaha nodded. "Are there any objections to Lady Griffin taking the oath?"

Kane stood. "All those of my party, the Purists, hold no objections to her membership and congratulate our newest member of the Wizengamot."

Allie Glass stood as well. "On behalf of our Minister and the Traditionalist party I congratulate Lady Griffin on her entrance into this hallowed position and offer no objection to her entry." Her hair was neatly pulled back and falling over one shoulder, her lips a bright red.

Indra Woods begrudgingly stood up. "My party, the Reformists, have no objection to her placement."

"Are you, Clarke Griffin, of the house of Griffin, prepared to swear your oath of office to this ancient institution?" Jaha asked gravely while clearly watching her carefully.

"Yes," She said cooly.

"Then make your oath." He commanded.

Raising her left arm with her wand in hand, she spoke clearly and evenly. "I, Clarke Griffin, of the most ancient and noble house of Griffin, swear by my magic that I will be faithful and bear true

allegiance to the Magical order of Britain and its Kingdoms, according to the law. May Magic aid and witness this." Her wand lit up with a golden light that ran down her arm searing into her skin. It wasn't a completely binding oath, but it was close. She could feel her magic accepting it.

"Then, as head of this body, I instate Clarke Griffin as the new holder of the seat of her line." Jaha proclaimed. There was some polite clapping as she nodded briefly and made her way to what was now officially her seat.

"Now then," Jaha said as the clapping died out easily. "Honorable member, what party is the seat of Griffin now designated for?"

Clarke stood behind her family seat and felt a thrill of excitement, this was the moment. Her voice echoed out clear and unwavering. "I designate my seat to no current party." Several exclamations of shock and surprise moved around the chamber. She noticed the reporter actually stopped taking notes. She continued, ignoring the ripples of surprise. "Instead, as is my right as the representative of a founding seat, I move to create a new party." Pulling out a sheaf of parchment from her folder, she gave sharp swish and flick, silently sending the papers floating to Jaha. She took a moment to enjoy the surprised dismay on Jaha's face. "I hereby found the Latrocinium party."

Giving a sharp tap to the side of her desk, the formally green stripe of color behind her name changed to purple. Then, she calmly sat down and watched the chaos descend.

It took Jaha banging his gavel to stop the protests of her breaking tradition and how surely this couldn't be legal. Finally, silence fell. Jaha's voice boomed out. "You need another member of this body to second your movement for the creation of a new party. Which you do not have."

Callie Cartwig stood. "I second Lady Griffin's motion for the creation of the Latrocinium party."

Kane made a choking noise as he spun to face her. Clarke watched with raised eyebrows as a wave of shocked and surprised exclamations surged through the chamber.

"ORDER!" Jaha roared while banging his gavel again.

Jaha turned angry eyes on Clarke as he spoke through gritted teeth. "Are you sure you want to do this?!" He demanded.

Clarke stood once more and the protests fell silent. "It is already done."

Jaha seemed to struggle with himself for a moment before continuing. "Then the motion is passed and the Latrocinium is recognized as an official party."

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

The green flames engulfed her with their tickling warmth and familiar presence as she twisted and turned through the floo finally stepping out of the fireplace in the Slytherin common room. She was exhausted and her shoulders felt heavy from the weight of the formal robes. Making her way across the common room, she ignored the looks and headed straight up the stairs to her room. As soon as the door closed she leaned against it and let her posture slump.

Taking her hat off her head, she dropped it on top of her trunk and unclasped her plum robes and let them hit the ground. She didn't have the energy to deal with them right now. With a groan, she face planted on her bed. The Wizengamot had been insanely boring once the drama of her founding a new party had finished. Seven hours of budget reviews in preparation for the discussion of next year's budget. Wells would have loved it she thought morosely.

After giving herself half an hour to enjoy the break, she peeled herself up off the bed. Pulling on her school robes, she tied her green and silver tie with deft fingers, it barely required thought at this point. Sighing, she stuck her wand up her sleeve after a wave of it towards her hair. It was strange feeling her hair magically straightening itself out, but she didn't have the energy to bother brushing it properly. Her face fell into its standard mask as she left her small private room and went down into the common room. Fox was up and beside her quickly, leaving Thalia in the corner with ink smudged fingers sitting across from Ontari.

"Clarke, mind if I follow you?" Fox asked with a genuine smile.

Clarke returned the smile. "Of course not, I'm afraid I'm just heading to the kitchens before I'm required at the tutoring hall."

Fox shrugged and followed her out into the castle. As they walked, she finally started talking. "So, Ontair isn't half bad when she's not surrounded by her family 'friends'." Fox raised her hands and made air quotes for the 'friends.'

"I noticed. Is Thalia still studying with her?" Clarke asked curiously.

"Yup," Fox said, "Raven pushed us through more Runes in an hour than we usually get through in a month. Ontari was muttering about 'dirty mudbloods showing her up' on the way back to the common room. I think Thalia is trying to further humiliate her by proving her superior skill at them as well."

Clarke snorted. "So, Raven and you all had fun then?"

"Of course," Fox reached out tickling the pear and letting them into the kitchens.

"Just a sandwich if you don't mind." Clarke said quickly before the elves could get over excited.

Fox elbowed her in the ribs. "Hot cocoa for me."

"Of course mistresses!" An excited elf replied and soon hot cocoa and a massive sandwich were being shoved into their hands as they were herded to the small table and chairs used by students when in the kitchens.

Clarke let out a groan of pleasure at the first bite of her sandwich. She'd missed lunch during the break of the meeting because she had been absconded by Jaha, who had demanded answers. Or well, politely asked for them with a thinly covered layer of stress. Allie, the brains behind the party, would no doubt be calling on her soon. That would be an uncomfortable conversation, there was something distinctly disturbing about the woman.

"So, how was the Wizengamot?" Fox asked after taking a sip of her hot cocoa.

Clarke looked at her sandwich with longing as she set it down so she could reply. "I probably will be making the front page tomorrow unless something catastrophic happens. We'll see how favorable the Prophet is towards me." She shrugged while going back to her sandwich.

"Come on, whose face was the best?" Fox insisted.

"Allie, although Kane's face when Callie seconded my motion was priceless. Jaha's look of shock didn't disappoint but he had some unexpectedly talented competition." She made a thoughtful sound, turning the conversation in a more serious direction. "Kane, for all I disagree with him, is the most reasonable of the party bigwigs."

Fox grinned. "So, sadly, since I have the day's gossip to catch you up on, you will have to owe me a detailed account tonight." She said with grin. "Dax is out of control Clarke." Her smile faded. "He gave out twenty detentions to muggleborns today after breakfast."

Clarke groaned and closed her eyes, she didn't have time for a school bully but apparently she would be making time for it. "We'll just have to make sure that as many of the detentions he gives out are served through the tutoring program as possible. It won't be able to fix all of it but it should help. When he cornered me after breakfast today, he declared I was a blood traitor but only after accusing me of murdering Shumway." She said, giving a significant look to Fox. After all, there was a line that should not be crossed while in front of the elves.

Fox clearly got the message. "Sounds right, he's been unstable since Shumway left." She shook her head. "He was his mentor and the source of a lot of his power here at Hogwarts. Shumway ditching him has left him in the lurch."

"I know," Clarke rubbed at her eyes. "I'll have to bring it up with Sydney if he keeps abusing his position."

"You didn't want to do that though." Fox pointed out.

"I know, but there is only so much I can do as head girl when he's head boy. If he was a prefect or a regular student, I could handle him. As it is the tutoring program will be the best defense we have against his abuse and it's just started up and nowhere near its full effectiveness. We should probably encourage the younger years to start a buddy system for when they are in the public places. So that no one has to face him alone. How's the house dealing with his behavior today?" She asked curiously. Dax's ever descending level of self-control had already hurt his standing in the house of snakes.

Fox frowned. "Ontari has been avoiding him as best she can, trying to avoid having him pull her down with him in his downward spiral. Most of the seventh years don't think it's worth coming up for air from their NEWT studies to fight for position in a house they won't be in for much longer. So they are pretty much leaving the situation alone. Sixth years have been giving him a wide berth same as they have since break ended. They have pretty much stopped their jockeying for top spot next year out of fear of setting off Dax. Fifth years are too absorbed in their OWLs to care about the situation. They're in a study coma same as the seventh years. The younger years won't approach Dax without Ontari as a go between. It is creating a mess in internal Slytherin politics. No offense, but you are often too busy to deal with the more minor internal issues and though Dax wasn't the best option he at least kept control of things. With him off the rails, things have gotten a bit messy in Slytherin." She reported succinctly.

Clarke nodded, it was about what she'd expected. Although for as much of a pain as Dax was being he had effectively ceded the power in Slytherin house to her completely. He was no longer positioned to challenge her, and he'd been the only one capable of challenging her properly before all this. Though being the unofficial leader of Slytherin had never been her main goal, it might help to smooth over some potential issues she had to deal with while here at Hogwarts. Ontari's change of attitude made sense in light of this change in the power structure of Slytherin. She'd noticed the changing of the guard. If she wanted to take control of Slytherin house in another year or two, she'd need to be allied at least loosely with Clarke's contingent. Suddenly, Clarke laughed, "Fox, you're a sixth year and close friends with the current power in Slytherin. With Dax combusting, his sixth year allies have lost the support they need and won't be able to take over the house."

Fox opened her mouth and shut it sharply. "I…holy shit, but I'm a new blood?!"

Clarke snorted. "And none of the old families have a child with enough political capital to challenge you." The irony was immense that the new blood who'd ended up under her wing in need of help surviving Slytherin could end up leading the house.

"Ontari would challenge me, she might take it." Fox said cautiously.

Clarke hummed while chewing her next bite. "Ontari has turned too much of the school against her with her bullying. She might still be able to be a thorn in your side, but you have age and aren't hated by people outside of our house, distrusted maybe, but not hated."

Fox snorted. "Next, you're going to suggest I befriend the bigot so that I can have iron clad control of the house." She rolled her eyes and was clearly being sarcastic.

Clarke grinned, "Well it couldn't hurt."

"Clarke…."

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

Clarke worked on her homework at the table in the study hall. Fox had abandoned her for Harper and Monroe as soon as they'd arrived at the study group. She wished she could get a hold of a time turner but even the Minister would have a hard time getting one out of the Department of Mysteries. Realizing she'd just read the same paragraph for the fifth time and still hadn't understood it, she let herself listen in to the others in their various pockets around the room. She smiled as she heard Bellamy lecturing to his significantly larger group of first years on the history of Merlin and Morgana.

"Merlin's death at the hands of a Veela luring him into an enchanted cave is part fact, part myth. Even as magicals our understanding and recordings of history are not perfect. The accounts we have of the time aren't perfect. We do know that Morgana was founder of enchantment and runic work and overlay as we know it today. We also know the site of Merlin's tomb and it is indeed to this day one of the greatest works of enchantment known to wizarding kind. Academics will argue that the two were bitter enemies while others will argue that they were dear friends. The tale that those who believe they were enemies will tell is simple. During the height of their rivalry, Morgana paid a visiting veela to seduce Merlin and lead him to a cave she had enchanted to be inescapable and trap him inside. This trap became his tomb and he never made it out, and no one to this day has ever made it inside." Bellamy deepened his voice dramatically as he described Merlin's possible fate.

"The other version of events, based on what little evidence we have, is that while rivals, Morgana and Merlin were friends. In recent years, this has been a more popular theory and was first proposed by Bathilda Bagshot. Since it was first proposed it has been corroborated by several academics specializing in that time period. In this version, Merlin died of illness or old age and Morgana designed his tomb as a monument to her friend. Now, if you want an opinion on the nature of the runic chains used on the tomb you should ask Reyes. Regardless, you'll need to know both theories on how Merlin died for your exams, so study up even if you think one is incredibly wrong." He smiled at his students all eagerly listening to him.

Clarke didn't blame the kids for listening to his every word, he was a far more interesting teacher of history than Binns could have been even when he still breathed. Noticing Raven's study group, she almost laughed at the fact it was heavily populated by Slytherin and Gryffindor girls. The written title of '101 Ways to Deal with Boys' explained that. She had a feeling explosions were involved in several of those, after all it was Raven. She may not be an expert but that was

definitely a ward for school trunks that Raven was writing with chalk up on the board.

Professor Miller had a group of kids he was lecturing on boggarts. That made Clarke shiver at the memories of her class on the foul things. Her boggart had been of a werewolf hunched over her father's body, howling in victory while her father lay there bleeding from the injuries that killed him. The traditional way of getting rid of a boggart was to hit it with a ridiculous spell. Killing one was incredibly difficult. On that day her entire class learned that if hit with a strong enough 'destructo' a bogart will self-implode. No one had spoken to her above a whisper for a week after that event.

Skipping to where Finn was going over first year charms, she groaned. The first and second year girls were looking at him with wide eyes. He was charming, she'd give him that, and was clearly keeping an engaged audience. Tutoring was good for him really. Maybe it would keep him too busy to try and approach her or Raven for a while.

The thud of someone sitting down next to her brought her attention back to her immediate surroundings. Snorting, she saw Jasper and Monty pulling out their books, Jasper's goggles settled on his face to show that he was preparing for some serious studying.

"Hey guys." She greeted.

"Whuzz up Princess?" Jasper asked.

"Wishing you two could invent a potion that made sleep unnecessary." She smiled.

Monty tilted his head looking thoughtful. "Not sure if that's possible…but there are a few that if combined could give you a good two weeks of no sleep. However, you might require afterwards." He shrugged.

She raised her eyebrows. "I think I'll just suffer, thanks."

"What, now that you're a big wig you're too good for our experiments?" Jasper asked with a wink.

"Nope, I've just learned to avoid your experiments if I value my life."

Monty nodded, "Wise decision."

"But you're our friend!" Jasper protested while pouting theatrically. "You're supposed to be a willing sacrifice to our genius."

Clarke raised her eyebrows at him. "That face doesn't work on me any longer Jordan."

"Ooooo, the big guns are out, she called you by your last name." Roma snarked as she walked

past.

Jasper straightened immediately, casting hopeful eyes at her. "She's just afraid she'll fall for my charm."

"Sure Jordan." Clarke said, "Whatever helps you sleep at night." Glancing to the side, she caught Bellamy's eye. Internally she cursed, it seemed her sleep would have to be delayed a little longer, Bellamy was signaling that he needed to have a conversation with her. She had not anticipated how much work a rebellion would end up being when she originally planned this out with Wells. Foolish on her part, she was now realizing. "Guys...I'm going to need a secretary."

"Oh, I'm out." Jasper said, looking horrified. "Nope, not happening."

Monty looked at her in horror as well. "Yeah, nope, nada, not happening."

Clarke smacked Jasper lightly upside the head. "I didn't mean you two. I can't exactly finance your start up if you're working as my secretary."

Roma did a pivot turn and walked back over. "You know Harper doesn't have a career path. You should talk to her if you're serious about that."

"I will. Do you think she'd be willing to spend a lot of time around pureblood elites though?" She asked carefully.

Roma shrugged. "She's stronger than most people give her credit for being. Still, I don't know if she'd be willing to put up with their crap or not."

"Let her know I want to talk to her soon then." She said with a feeling of relief. If she had an extra hand to help out, it would make the ridiculous amount of work she needed to get done at Hogwarts before her graduation easier. Standing up, she began to put her things away. "Well, I have to go have a word with Blake on his lectures. They're quite popular and I'll need to secure his services for more sessions. If you'll excuse me."

She left after saying goodnight to her friends and directed Bellamy to a quiet corner of the room where they could talk in relative privacy. Throwing up a subtle privacy ward, she softened her stance glad to see him. "You needed to talk?"

"Yeah, can we have an owl conference tomorrow?" He asked carefully.

Frowning, she replied quickly. "Of course, lunch hour? I'll be in the Wizengamot during the morning hours but I should be back for lunch. Meetings don't tend to run long more than once in a week."

"That works, but, Princess, Dax is out of hand." He shifted nervously.

"I know." She said. "Fox informed me already. I'll go to Sydney after the next prefect meeting this coming weekend."

Bellamy seemed to lose some of the anxious energy around him. "Good, he's been following me around lately and it's starting to get creepy."

"Is there anything else I need to know now that can't wait till tomorrow?" She asked, knowing that once they had proper privacy they could have a far more productive conversation. Not to mention she had several dad jokes about how comfortable he was with the kids. He really was doing a great job with them.

"No, the rest can wait. Although, you should consider teaching some of the munchkins. It might help with house integration and all that mumbo jumbo. Teaching isn't nearly as painful as I thought it would be, I'm actually enjoying it." Bellamy remarked with some surprise.

"I'm far too busy for that. What with studying for my own classes, my meetings with the Wizengamot, and my duties as head girl, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to give it the attention it deserves. Besides, I think it will be far more enjoyable to watch your students as they moon over you. If that's everything, I'll see you tomorrow. I am going to be getting some necessary rest before the next Wizengamot meeting tomorrow." Clarke gave one last wave to Bellamy before retreating to her bed and a well deserved sleep.


	22. Chapter 22

Bellamy lazily flicked his wand, letting colorful bubbles escape from the end. The bubbles floated about around his friends as they sat along the table as they ate lunch. He grinned as he saw them circling Miller's head.

"Is there a reason you're crowning me with bubbles?" Miller asked while reaching for his pumpkin juice.

"Just practicing for the cheering charm for Charms later and I thought I might as well try some other basic charms." He said, flicking his wand and shooting out pink bubbles, this time towards his sister, who just threw up a silent shield without looking at him to protect the essay she was working on from the sticky substance.

She dipped her pen in the inkwell again. "If you ruin this essay, you'll find out what a banishing hex does to your bits." It was slightly frightening how calmly she said it, Octavia was not a calm person.

He directed the bubbles away from her shield to join the ones already on top of Miller's head.

"Really?" Miller asked, looking highly unimpressed.

Bellamy shrugged. "What can I say, you look bubblific."

Harper looked up from where she'd been constructing a sandwich. "Never say that again. You're terrible at puns."

"I'm hurt," He said while swishing his wand and letting the bubbles dissipate. "I should go, I'm going to be late to send a letter."

The others waved vaguely at him, knowing that was code for going off to talk to Clarke. Pocketing some bacon for Clarke's owl, who he was trying to bribe into liking him, he swung off the bench and shouldered his bag before heading off to the owlery. As an afterthought, he casually summoned an apple on his way out of the great hall. He caught it easily in his left hand. Casually strolling along the halls, he pocketed his wand and took a bite from his apple. Sadly, he really was running slightly late so he didn't make his usual detours to take the more historically interesting pathways through the castle.

Before opening the large wooden door separating him from the open air walkway to the owlery, he pulled his scarf out of his bag and wrapped the red and gold wool around his neck. Digging around in his bag, he found an old broken quill. With a noise of triumph, he transformed it into a plain glass jar. Conjuring blue flames that crackled and burned without fuel, he dropped them into the jar. With his portable heater now made, he pushed the door open and hurried across the open pathway.

The wind was always blowing up here, biting through any robes no matter how thick. His secondhand robes barely stood a chance against the whipping wind. Hunching his shoulders, he took the last few steps. Ignoring the panoramic view of the grounds and forest beyond, he quickly ducked into the owlery. Stamping his feet, he was pleased to see he'd beaten Clarke and quickly examined the birds on the various perches, looking for Clarke's screech owl. Holding up his arm, he pulled out a piece of bacon from his pockets. "Hey Godric, who's a good owl," he wheedled.

Ignoring how every owl in the room was staring at him with wide eyes focused in on the bacon, he stared hopefully at the stupid bird in front of him. "Come on Godric, you want the nice yummy bacon don't you?"

"Are you trying to bribe my owl Blake?" Clarke asked as she came in from behind him.

Bellamy jumped in surprise. "Princess, how long have you been there?"

"Long enough." She grabbed the bacon out of his hand and laughed as Godric landed lightly on her shoulder. Raising the bacon, she scratched his head as he wolfed it down.

Narrowing his eyes at the blasted owl that still hadn't warmed up to him, Bellamy wondered if it was just an antisocial owl. That would explain it, birds usually loved him. He was an animal person. It was starting to kill his pride how much Godric ignored him. "Does your owl just hate people?"

Clarke titled her head. "I don't think so, he just doesn't trust easy. He'll come around." She turned her attention back to the bird and scratched under his chin with a soft smile.

"So, how was the Wizengamot this morning?" He asked while stuffing his hands into his pockets.

"Boring, we're continuing to review the budget. So, for the next few weeks we'll be listening to representatives from the various departments from within the ministry petitioning for additional funds. Then, it will be time for me to make some more waves with my proposals. Proposals for added funds begin after we get through this." She gave him a playful smile.

Bellamy screwed up his face. "Better you than me. Are you going to be stealing any more of the younger years to do legal research for you? Cause I caught a fourth year trying to absorb knowledge by sticking his head through the book."

"I only assigned a little bit of research on a few past laws concerning education reform to the research team." Clarke said with a shrug. "I don't have time to do all the research I would like."

"You are a taskmaster of the first order. I think the younger years should be thanking the stars you don't want to be a teacher." He shuddered at the thought of what Clarke would consider a reasonable amount of work. "Still, that's not why I needed to meet you here."

"Dax," Clarke said with a sigh of exhaustion. Pinching her nose, she closed her eyes. "He's out of control."

He shifted on his feet knowing Clarke wasn't going to like what he was going to say. "You have to make Sydney remove him from the position of head boy." Pulling his hands out of his pockets, he crossed his arms. He wasn't budging on this.

"I heard from Fox." She turned and looked out one of the windows. "I talked with Sydney and she had a conversation with Dax about keeping himself under control and not embarrassing the administration and Slytherin house. I don't think it did much good. She doesn't want to dismiss him as head boy because she is closely allied with the Trips and I didn't want to force her hand."

"Well, you're going to have to insist." He said in frustration, running a hand through his hair. "He's out of control and his position as head boy gives him too much power. His detentions are becoming increasingly cruel and his accusations are far too close to the truth. It would ruin everything if anyone was willing to listen to him!"

Clarke didn't move for a second, her eyes staring out at the grounds. "Do you know why Dax is falling to pieces now that Shumway is gone?"

He scrunched up his face. "Does it matter? He's an ass."

She snorted. "True enough. That said I think it is important to understand your enemies. His family are the noble family of Trip. There are a lot of Trips, one of the few pureblood houses that's grown despite the instability and stagnation the rest of us have suffered from in these current times. They've done so by marrying new bloods and half-bloods. That has got them a lot of flak in pureblood circles and his family has lost a lot of prestige. I was too focused outside my house on Wells and my father's deaths to take much notice in my early years here but I know now that Dax was bullied quite heavily by the older Slytherins when he first came to Hogwarts."

"I don't see why this is important?" He scoffed.

"Because it explains why Shumway was so important to him. Shumway used his influence to protect him from the bullying and to elevate Dax in Slytherin house so that he was the one doing the bullying instead of getting bullied. Not only that, but Shumway was Dax's mentor. He was going to provide him with an apprenticeship when he left Hogwarts. Without Shumway, his entire future is now uncertain. An apprenticeship with Shumway after Hogwarts would have secured him a distinguished career as a master in Defense Against the Dark Arts and given him a chance of elevating his family's standing. Without that, he is stuck once again as the unremarkable heir of a family whose influence is diminishing. We inadvertently destroyed his future and he's lashing out. I just wanted you to understand what you are asking of me when you tell me to take what little influence he has left." She looked at him, her face sad. "I've never liked him, and I've accepted we'll have to do some unspeakable things and this is hardly the worst. That doesn't stop me from wishing there was another option."

He felt a bit of exasperation building towards Clarke and her attempts to defend Dax. "Look, I hate him, and I'm not sorry that he's going to lose his influence and future opportunities. If anyone deserves it, it's him," he spoke venomously. He really loathed Dax. Dax had represented the worst parts of Hogwarts for so long to Bellamy that he didn't think he could feel any other way about him. "If you can't do what has to be done, what was the point of forcing Sydney to make the oath?"

"I am more than capable of doing what needs to be done." She turned on him, her eyes flashing. He could see her hair billowing from the magic moving through the air, Godric's feathers were ruffling. "I took care of the mess you made with Shumway, and now I'm going to do it again. Forgive me for regretting what must be done!"

Bellamy fell silent and tipped his head slightly. "I'm sorry." He felt frustration bubbling in him. "I can't protect the kids from him, Clarke. No matter why he's gone off his rocker, he has and it can't continue."

"I know. I'll take care of it." She saw him opening his mouth and spoke quickly much to his irritation. "I have a free period while you're in Charms. I need to finish my essay, but I'll still have time to meet you before Transfiguration class begins. I'll go to Sydney after dinner."

He wished he could sit down, but the benches were covered with an unsavory amount of owl crap. "Thank you." They both stood there in silence for a while before he found himself asking. "Do we really have to keep Finn on for the tutoring?"

Clarke snorted, the serious expression on her face lessening. "Yes, haven't you noticed he's good at it?"

He grimaced. "I still don't like him."

"Neither do I." She said with a slight twinkle in her eye. "He's still useful though. I see your history group has been growing."

He smiled proudly at the mention of his history group. "Yeah, they do well with some actual instruction. Binns is dangerously incompetent."

"We'll take care of Binns when we have the opportunity. If we get rid of him now, he'd just be replaced by a pureblood moron who would teach just as much, if not more, prejudiced history than we get now." She waved her hand, "Do you have any more bacon on you? Godric looks a bit peckish."

"Oh yeah," he dug around in his pockets before grabbing the two other slices and handing them over.

She smiled. "Thanks."

"No problem," he shrugged. "So, you're missing out on cheering charms review today. Bet you wish you hadn't taken your NEWTS early."

"You may enjoy being artificially cheerful for hours but I'd like to stay sober thanks." She pulled out a sheaf of paper and handed it over. "I need you to go over my notes on ideas for future study sessions. I'll pick them up after charms."

"You're giving me homework outside of class?" he teased with a smirk.

She pulled her wand out of her pocket. "Well, you are a leader of this little rebellion, you should take up some of the paperwork."

He groaned, "You know you've managed to turn a rebellion into a bureaucratic nightmare."

She grinned challengingly. "What, you can handle teaching adoring students about history and running a rebellion while still in school, but a little paperwork is enough to give you nightmares?"

He pouted. "You and your damn bird are evil." He flinched slightly when Godric focused his eyes on him. "Yeah, yeah I'll do it."

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

Bellamy doodled on the side of the parchment on which he'd written his notes on the lecture portion of the class. He'd long since put in his own commentary in between the lines and was now drawing hearts and stars around the edges. Everything was fabulous. He snorted, noticing Miller conjuring tulips and floating them over to Bryan. The classroom was filled with laughter and giggles. Two hours of cheering and calming charms and they were all supremely pleased with themselves.

"Whatch'ya doodling there?" Harper asked, leaning her head on his shoulder drunkenly.

His cheeks turned pink at the realization that he'd been drawing hearts and Harper would be duty bound to tell his sister. "Nothing," he stuck his tongue out at her.

"Gross!" she pushed his head away from her. "You're lame Blake." She nodded, evidently pleased with herself.

"Pay Attention!" the professor shouted, trying to get ahold of the classroom.

Bellamy collapsed into fits of giggles at the pointlessness of trying to get them under control. After all, Miller and Bryan were about one cheering charm away from just making out and ignoring the presence of the everyone else. Sterling was trying to paint a...what was that? He tilted his head towards the wall of the classroom where Sterling was painting what looked like, he squinted, a hippogriff engaging in inappropriate behavior with a thestral. Now that was a thought. Turning back to Harper, he found himself asking. "If a hippogriff and a thestral had a kid, what would it be like? Like an invisible hippogriff? Feathered thestral? Visible thestral? For that matter, can a hippogriff even see a thestral?"

Harper tilted her head in thought. "You know, I don't know." She started laughing. "I bet Octavia would know!"

He nodded solemnly. "Yes, she would know." He pulled out a piece of paper and began to write. "Dear Octavia, best sister in the world. What would happen if a hippogriff and a thestral had offspring? Also can hippogriffs see thestrals what with the whole having to have witnessed a death to see them thing. Your dearest brother, Bellamy." He signed off with a flourish and cast a quick drying spell on the paper.

Frowning, he cursed when it was clearly over powered and singed the edges of the paper slightly. Patting it before it could catch on fire properly, he happily began folding it.

"What are you doing?" Harper asked. She was still leaning against him and giggling every time Monroe flicked a piece of paper into someone's hair.

He pulled up the now folded paper plane with a flourish. "The Ministry of Magic uses enchanted paper planes to deliver messages. I learned about it in 'Modern Administration and How it Came About.' Of course I learned the spell. Thought it looked useful." He puffed up his chest.

Harper wrinkled her nose. "Why would you read something like that? That sounds worse than that book on Aconite Clarke made me read."

"Because it was interesting," he defended. He found it didn't really bother him that Harper thought it sounded boring. It was her loss and he'd learned this awesome spell because of it. Concentrating on the plane, he cast the spell while thinking about his sister. His baby sister, who needed to learn a few more offensive spells to deal with boys. His forehead wrinkled as the paper plane lazily shot off out under the door. Pulling out another piece of paper, he began to write out the directions for some offensive spells to pass onto her.

The professor sighed from the front. "Oh thank Merlin, class is over everyone. Pack up and be prepared to turn in a foot of parchment on why the cheering charm should only be used in moderation. I expect them to be cited and sourced and on my desk in our next class."

Bellamy shoved his half done list of spells into a pile with the rest of his stuff and then swept the rest of his stuff haphazardly into his bag. "Well, this was nice. I have some stuff to do though."

Humming a pleasant song under his breath, he elbowed his way out of the classroom ahead of his friends. Craning his neck around once out of the room, he looked for Clarke. He didn't spot her but he did spot Dax looking quite unhappy coming towards him. Now that he thought about it, Dax hadn't been in class like he should have been. He felt a wide sloppy smile spread across his face. "Dax, head butthead. What's up?"

Dax seemed to grind his teeth. "Follow me Blake. We need to talk."

"Why should I do that?" He asked amused by the way a vein on the side of his temple seemed to be straining to break free.

"Because I'm head boy and if you don't, I'll have you sitting detention from now till the end of school," Dax spat.

Bellamy sighed, he might as well do so. After all, it wasn't like Dax would have the power to do this for much longer. Clarke could surely reverse whatever stupid thing Dax was going to do. "Fine, lead on, oh great and mighty head boy." He mocked while waving his arm.

Sauntering behind the stiff strides of Dax, Bellamy continued to hum as he followed Dax into an empty classroom. Watching Dax walk arrogantly in front of him, he smiled. It was going to be great to watch Dax without his head boy badge endure the shame of tomorrow's demotion. "So, what do you want Daxy boy?" He drawled.

Dax turned with what looked like a thundercloud around him as he brandished his wand. Bellamy startled, realized something was wrong and began to reach for his own wand. It was too late, Dax had already sent out a spell. It hit him like a blow to the gut. His arms snapped to his side, his spine straightening. He seemed to wobble on his feet, his balance now precarious. Internally, he swore as he felt himself tipping backwards. The adrenaline rush and panic had broken through the fog the cheering charms had left in his brain and it was becoming clear how screwed he was. His back didn't hit the ground, instead, he found himself floating up against the wall. If he had to guess, Dax had cast a petrificus totalus followed by wingardium leviosa and some sticking charms to keep him attached to the wall. He tried to force his magic out but he couldn't, without his wand he didn't have enough control for wandless magic. This was ridiculous. He couldn't so much as twitch, or blink. He was only able to move his eyes around inside his head.

Bellamy was able to see Dax approaching him, his wand still brandished and a twisted snarl on his lips. "You're going to tell me what you and the Princess did to Shumway or I'm going to start removing fingers."

It struck Bellamy as ironic it would be fingers, after all Clarke had been the one to remove Shumway's finger. He attempted to struggle, which was pointless since his muscles wouldn't listen to him. Dax seemed to sense the escape attempt, as useless as it was, and he punched him across the face.

It was a sloppy punch but it did the job. Bellamy felt a grunt try to leave his paralyzed throat as his nose snapped and sent blood gushing down the front of his robes. Dax stepped back, swearing as he wrung out his hand. "Why would you dirty mudbloods and muggles ever resort to such forms of physical violence?! It causes you nearly as much pain as the people you're hitting. If that's not proof that you are all stupider than a troll attempting arithmancy, then I don't know what is." He quickly cast a numbing spell on his hand, or at least Bellamy was fairly certain that was what he cast.

He had a rather lot to say to the idiot if he could just move and get to his wand! However, he couldn't, so he was left, stuck to the wall, in pain, and with blood streaming down his face. Dax recovered quicker than Bellamy would have hoped. All spells wore off, especially if the caster was distracted. Dax didn't look properly sane at the moment but it seemed he'd managed to cast a full powered hex, curse it all.

"Well, that won't be happening again." Dax remarked while twirling his wand in his good hand. Lucky bastard had used his non-dominant hand to punch him since he'd been holding his wand. "So, let's try this again. Where's Shumway?" He jabbed his wand at Bellamy's mouth.

Bellamy instantly felt the warming tingle of his muscles in his jaw coming back to life. He didn't bother kicking this gift horse in the mouth. He breathed in and screamed. "HELP! SOMEONE HELP!"

A blunt force curse of some sort him in the gut causing his screaming to be cut off. Dax snorted. "Sound proofed this room while you were wasting your time with cheering charms." He bragged. "Go ahead and scream, no one will hear you."

Bellamy glared. "Fuck you Dax! You're insane! You won't get away with this!"

Dax looked at him like he was genuinely puzzled at why Bellamy thought he wouldn't be able to get away with this. "You did something to Shumway. Once you tell me what, the aurors will arrest you. They might even give me a medal. Do you think they'll care that I had to hurt a bastard mudblood like you to get my information?" He grinned, looking slightly demented.

Bellamy spat a mouthful of blood in his face. "You're crazy!"

Dax startled and wiped the blood off his face looking truly disgusted. "You mudbloods aren't even worth the dirt beneath my feet." He raised his wand for a cutting curse. "So, let's get started shall we, what did you do to Shumway?"

"Even if I knew anything I'd never tell you." Bellamy snapped while trying desperately to move, twitch, anything! "And I'm a half-blood you moron, get it right."

"Have to say I was hoping you'd choose the hard way." Dax said while waving his wand.

"PROTEGO!" Clarke's voice shouted as a shimmering shield appeared in front of Bellamy.

Bellamy felt like he could breathe again. "Clarke!"

Dax spun on his feet, whipping what was clearly a cutting curse towards Clarke, who ducked while sending a spell that was blue and glowed flying at Dax.

Rolling behind the desk, Dax popped back up, sending a sickly orange curse flying towards Clarke. Clarke didn't bother with a shield, side stepping the curse with a flourish and sending a bright red hex at him that caused the top of the desk to explode into a shower of splinters. Dax cried out as some of the splinters hit their mark.

"CLARKE! Get me down from here. I can help!" he cried, renewing his efforts to break the spells' hold on him.

"I'm a little busy Blake!" Clarke snapped while literally ripping her robe off and transforming it into a shield just in time to catch another curse from Dax whose face was covered in splinters but his eyes had apparently escaped and nothing too serious had happened to him from the explosion of the desk.

"What, here to rescue your pet mudblood?!" Dax sneered as he turned the floor to ice while dodging an alarmingly powerful banishing hex from Clarke.

Clarke flicked her wand, creating a massive whip of live flames that she cracked through the air towards Dax, who dived behind several seats that were devoured in seconds by the flames. Clarke pulled the flames back with a curl of her wrist before sending them flying again for where Dax was scrambling for cover. "Give up Dax, you crossed the line. Attacking a student! What were you thinking?"

Dax cursed as he slipped on his own ice, crashing down on the floor as the fire whip destroyed several of the student desks leaving blackened and burning husks. He jabbed his wand at Bellamy, a purple and crackling curse spiraling towards him at an alarming speed.

"Bellamy!" Clarke yelped as she cut her connection to her flaming whip, throwing up a shield barely in time to stop the curse from hitting him. He felt his eyes widen in horror as he made eye contact with her. She jabbed her wand at him and he felt his muscles start to tingle as they came back into his control.

He reached for his wand in his pocket while slipping one arm out of his robe that was still stuck to the wall. While he struggled, he saw Clarke turning her attention to Dax, "CLARKE LOOK OUT!"

She didn't move in time, her releasing him after protecting him had left her vulnerable for a split second and Dax had sent a spell at her while she was distracted. Clarke was lifted up off her feet, she twisted in midair like a ragdoll before being sent into the wall with a crack. Bellamy slipped out of his robe the rest of the way and sent the strongest disarming spell he'd ever cast at Dax, forcing the boy to duck again. Stumbling over to Clarke, he saw her groaning as she rolled and realized she was alive. Though if the way she was holding her left arm was any indication, it was broken.

Turning towards Dax, he charged, sending out every hex he could think of as he ran. Dax was back on his feet, deflecting the spells as Bellamy charged towards him. With a roar, he crashed into Dax physically pushing them both onto the ground.

Fury pumped through his veins as he rained punches down on Dax's face. He had no idea where his wand had gotten to, having lost it in the chaos of the tackle, but that didn't matter. He had to make sure the boy stayed down before worrying about his wand. His knuckles were turning bloody from the hits and he didn't know or care if it was his blood or Dax's. Before he could confirm that he had knocked Dax out, he felt a whoosh as he was lifted off Dax and flung across the room crashing into several desks before he landed. Rolling onto his side, he gagged, desperately trying to breathe.

Dax stumbled to his feet and began to approach him, his wand still in his hand. "I'm going to kill you for that Bellamy Blake." he snarled. "And I'm going to enjoy doing it."

Bellamy scrambled backwards but couldn't move far because of the wreckage of what was once chairs and desks. Oh Merlin, this was how he was going to die, his wand lost, his friend helpless to stop it, at the hands of a damn bully. Bellamy curled up his lip, "You'll pay for this."

"Even if I do, it's worth it." Dax said while raising his wand.

There was a blur of blonde as Bellamy saw Clarke leap onto Dax from behind, a shard of desk in her hand that she stabbed brutally into his neck. Bellamy stared in horror and shock as Dax dropped his wand, his hand reaching up to the piece of wood impaling him. Clarke dropped off his back, stumbling backwards before collapsing. Dax hit his knees, chocking on his own blood. Looking up, he stared at Bellamy in shock and pain, blood bubbling up past his lips before he collapsed into a pile on the ground with a slowly growing pool of blood beneath him.

Bellamy sat there panting, staring wide eyed at the corpse before him. Suddenly it hit him like a bludger, Clarke! Groaning, he rolled onto his knees and picked himself up from the ground. Several ribs were definitely broken and he could feel abrasions and cuts across his back but he ignored them in favor of hobbling over to where he knew Clarke was. She was leaning against the wall, breathing heavily, blood streaming down from her scalp. Looking down, he saw her wand. With a pained grunt, he leaned down and picked it up before continuing. Once he was at her side, he slumped down the wall next to her before handing over her wand. "You ok?"

"I will be," she wheezed.

"Same," they both just sat there trying to catch their breaths. He looked at her face and had to ask. "What do we do?"

Clarke's eyes seemed to spark back to life, the slightly glazed look leaving them. "We can't cover this up like Shumway and Atom. Dax's parents have pull, not much but enough."

"So what, we tell the truth?" He croaked in disbelief. Aurors had never been a source of security for him.

"No," she said softly with a rasp in her voice. "We can't let them question why he was after you and we can't let them think you were too connected to this or they will find a way to put you in Azkaban."

Bellamy started to nod but cringed from the sharp stabbing pain it caused from his nose. "What do we tell them then?"

Clarke looked thoughtful, clearly dozens of idea's turning in her head. Bellamy didn't even try. He doubted he would have any ideas worth sharing and his vision was kinda swimming anyways. A nice nap sounded pretty good actually.

"Bellamy!" Clarke said in concern, her good hand gripping his shoulder. "Don't go to sleep on me. You have a concussion. You need to stay awake."

Even though it wasn't her wand arm and the movement was choppy, her spell still worked, the wand tip glowed golden for a second and suddenly his thoughts cleared up like sun breaking through the fog. "Woah," He said blinking at the change in situation.

"That's temporary, but Jackson can handle the rest." Clarke said with some determination in her tone. "Now, it's not safe for you if Dax was attacking you. Dax's family might be dwindling but they are still purebloods and that has influence with the aurors. If he was attacking me, a pureblood from a prominent family with connections to the minister and a newly instated member of the Wizengamot, they will be much more lenient. So, here's our story, we were scheduled to meet over tutoring notes. Dax knew this and he planned to incapacitate you and use you to lure me here." She said firmly.

Bellamy squinted at her. "Why would he be attacking you? I mean I know he's...was," he swallowed, "crazy, but who would buy that he'd try and attack you?"

"They wouldn't most of the time." She said. "However, Dax has shown an unhealthy obsession with me in a very public way. He did publicly pursue a marriage contract with me and then spent a semester obsessively following me. He even broke protocol at a public event in regards to me and was seen trying to talk with me in private at dinner after the first Wizengamot session." Clarke cringed. "It's a lie, but one that will be believed due to his erratic behavior. It's also a story his family will want to keep quiet. If we imply that he was trying to rape me they won't want it investigated further. That sort of thing is hushed up generally."

It was Bellamy's turn to cringe. "He was crazy, an attempted murderer and all, but he never tried something like that." He protested weakly.

Clarke looked at him helplessly. "Do you know of any other crime the pureblood elite would want to hush up and bury as much as attempted rape? Because if you have a better idea I would love to hear it."

He frowned at his feet and the splintered remains and patches of melting ice on the floor. "No, he did try to torture me and kill both of us." He hated this but he could accept it was necessary. "So that's the story then?"

Clarke seemed to deflate slightly when he couldn't come up with a better idea. "Yes. Dax lured you away after the cheering charms class. He hid you behind some desks after petrifying you. I came to meet you to exchange notes on the tutoring program. Dax attacked me and tried to overpower me. After that it went down exactly how it went here. Lie as little as possible when they ask questions."

"I can do that." He grit his teeth at a sharp pain in his face as he looked up again. Reaching out, he gripped her knee. "Thank you, for saving me."

"What are friends for?" she asked hoarsely while raising her wand and closing her eyes. A silvery lion burst forth, shaking its mane out and growling while pacing in front of them, looking for the danger to its conjuror. Once it was sure they were secure, it turned to face them. Clarke tapped her wand on its nose. It blinked and then was off out of the room, no doubt to pass a message for help off to someone.

He chuckled and then started laughing even though it hurt. "You're patronus is a lion!" He wasn't sure why but he found this hysterically funny. "You're a Slytherin with a lion patronus." Giggles continued to escape his lips as he found he couldn't stop the semi-hysterical amusement.

Just as Clarke was about to give him a dubious reply, Bellamy's robe fell from its place sticking to the wall and covered Bellamy, who had been leaning against the wall underneath it. Clarke burst into giggles and Bellamy had never really stopped laughing. So, they sat there in the wreckage of what had once been a classroom, their bottoms getting wet from melting ice, covered in dust, blood, and splinters, laughing hysterically, succumbing to the stress of the situation.


	23. Chapter 23

Lexa gazed at the lit candle floating over the corner of her desk. She indulged in a brief fantasy of her stack of paperwork going up in flames. Much of the paperwork required by the Department was redundant. Some of the other aurors might get away with skipping out on some of it, but not Lexa. Nia Azgeda, the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, would use any excuse to have her dismissed. Well, if perfection was what Nia required, then perfection is what she would receive. Lexa would dot every 'i' and cross every 't' until she found a way out from under Nia's thumb. Her thoughts were interrupted by a piercing voice.

Trikru! Woods! Director Nia want's you." Quint barked from his desk outside of Nia's office.

Lexa jerked up to her feet, straightening her robes before marching towards Nia's office with a carefully blank face. Just outside of it, she exchanged a glance with the tall auror Lincoln Woods who had also been called into Nia's office. He clearly had no idea why they'd been summoned, so she braced herself for whatever was to come and knocked sharply.

"Get in here!" Nia's voice snapped.

Opening the door, she and Lincoln stepped in, then stood at attention in front of Nia's desk. Lexa cleared her throat. "Ma'am."

The office was all sharp angles and foreboding colors. The perfect foil for the condescending, aggressively, intimidating woman who loomed behind the desk.

"There has been a death at Hogwarts and we need to keep it out of the papers. Is that perfectly clear?"

"Yes ma'am." Lincoln and Lexa both answered in sync.

Nia's harsh gaze turned to Lexa. "I wouldn't bring an auror as junior as you Trikru, but the students may be more willing to speak to you than the rest of my staff. Woods, you have some minimal healer training that may be useful in confirming stories."

Nia paused, her face becoming even more hawkish, if that was possible. "Now, Lady Griffin, the newest member of the Wizengamot, is caught up in this. If the summons for us is correct, another student attempted to assault her and died during the course of her defense. Be very careful. Budget review for our department is coming up and Griffin, despite her foolish attempt to make a new party, is still well connected and could bury us in budget cuts. No messing this up. We find the truth, but we don't ruffle any important feathers, is that understood? If you can't do that Trikru, get out now." She spared Lexa an especially sharp glare.

Lexa ground her teeth together. "Understood, ma'am."

Nia's gaze bore down on Lexa until finally she seemed satisfied.

"Don't screw this up or I will have you mopping the floors in Azkaban till the day you die." She warned while walking around the desk.

Lexa couldn't help it, "Ma'am you're coming with us?" The idea was not a pleasant one. Nia watching over her shoulder as she did basic auror work was not an encouraging prospect. Nia would no doubt be looking for any excuse to reprimand her and give her a demerit. Lexa would just have to hope that the prospect of gaining a political connection with Griffin would be enough to distract Nia from her grudge against Lexa and her family.

"Of course I am. I can't trust you imbeciles to do this right with someone as influential as Griffin." Nia scoffed while throwing her door open. "Don't just stand there, we're already wasting time!"

In a swish of brown coats, they walked towards the floo point at the entrance of their offices. Lexa caught Anya's worried eye across the office as they hurried along. It wasn't often that a junior member like Lexa was called into Nia's office. She gave her the all clear signal that had been worked out between the members of the rebellion in the auror force years ago. Anya's expression relaxed as she went back to filling out her paperwork, or was that a crossword puzzle? Lexa resisted the urge to roll her eyes over Anya's behavior and kept pace just behind Nia. It frustrated her more than words could express that Nia was giving this her personal attention just because someone important was involved. Nobody should get special privileges when it came to the law.

She grabbed a handful of floo powder and called out her destination as she stepped into the fire directly behind Nia. The sickening spinning and spiraling of the floo ended as she strode out of the fireplace in the headmistress' office at Hogwarts, Lincoln was hot on her heels. Professor Bryne was waiting for them, clearly impatient. "Hurry, I'll catch you up on the way to the scene of the incident. Healer Jackson and Headmistress Sydney are with the two students that were involved."

Nia gave a quick nod of understanding. "What exactly can you tell us?"

Lexa focused on their objective as they were walking down the stairway, after all favoritism or not, a crime had happened and it was her job to investigate it. She pushed away the nostalgia she felt at being back at the school at which she'd so recently been a student. Those were happier days when she could focus on classes and quidditch and not worry so much about the realities of the world. Now, she was forced to confront the problems outside the relative safety of the school and she missed the relative simplicity of Hogwarts.

Bryne spoke crisply and clearly. "Ms. Griffin's patronus burst into Sydney's office just before last period and informed us that there had been an incident in one of the classrooms and that she required assistance. Upon arriving at the location Ms. Griffin's patronus directed us to, we found Dax Trip dead. Bellamy Blake, a half-blooded Gryffindor trouble maker, was injured as was Clarke Griffin. Both have broken bones and probable concussions."

"What was Mr. Blake doing there? Are we sure he's not the one who murdered Mr. Trip? I'd believe it of him. A halfblood like him will try and get away with anything if you let them." Nia asked as they began to walk down the halls, students oddly absent from the normally busy halls. Lexa assumed they'd been banned from the halls between the office and the crime scene. They were also likely banned from the owlery in hopes of keeping information from spreading before they had an official statement.

Bryne didn't look surprised to hear Nia's assumptions about Mr. Blake. "Sadly no, Ms. Griffin claims to be the one to dealt the final blow and she has no reason to lie."

"According to them, Mr. Blake and Ms. Griffin were planning on a brief meeting to exchange notes on the tutoring program she started to help the younger years. Dax incapacitated Mr. Blake at their meeting place and then lay in wait for Ms. Griffin's arrival. Ms. Griffin reported that Mr. Trip verbally assaulted her, accusing her of ruining his and his family's hopes for the future. The assault escalated quickly when he tried to force himself on her, at which point a fight broke out. I can tell you I've never seen three seventh years cast that type of magic at this school before today. The room is destroyed and much of its contents will need to be replaced before it is useable again, cursed fire, among other spells, does damage that is not repairable."

"Do you believe Mr. Trip is capable of the crimes he stands accused of committing?" Lexa asked, her brows furrowed. She remembered Dax, he'd been a fifth year prefect eager to make his way up the school hierarchy. A bully, but an ambitious one, smart enough to know that attacking the most connected student at the school wouldn't get him far. This didn't strike her as in character.

Nia shot her a death glare while Professor Bryne answered. "Ever since his family's marriage contract was declined, he's been combative and obsessed with Ms. Griffin, but recently he has pushed things to a new level. Since Shumway left, he has been wild and uncontrollable in particular in his behavior towards Ms. Griffin. This is unexpected but not as surprising as I'd hope."

Lexa considered Dax's actions at the ball, he had been behaving differently than her earlier impressions of him. She didn't have much to go on, they had been in different houses, different years, and very different social circles. Lexa only knew of him through the reputation he had gained in the unrelenting gossip that abounded in Hogwarts. Bellamy Blake had left a more clear impression. His attention grabbing Gryffindor ways had made him hard to ignore. He was loud, popular, and a confirmed trouble maker with lots of repressed rage. The situation would make more sense if it had been Blake taking a confrontation with a bully too far. "Blake wasn't involved directly?"

Bryne's face made a twitching motion. "Blake is a bad seed, but Ms. Griffin has been managing him this year. It appears that once released he tried to defend Ms. Griffin."

Lexa frowned but didn't say anything else. She had long since learned when not to push. She flickered her eyes around the familiar old walls. Nia spoke, "I assume the students have been removed from the floor where the incident occurred?"

"Of course," Bryne replied. "They are unaware of what has happened."

Lexa had to resist rolling her eyes in disbelief. She caught Lincoln's eye behind Nia's back and saw the same disbelief reflected in his face. The Hogwarts rumor mill would have spread news of the incident across the school in minutes if even just one student overheard something, and given the many secret passageways she had no doubt someone had.

Finally, they came to the empty classroom that she instantly knew was the right one. Professor Sinclair was standing guard outside the door looking rather pale. Entering the room with a sweep of her coat, she took in the scene and was shocked by the level of violence it spoke to having been perpetrated. The classroom was destroyed. Furniture was either shattered, charred, or falling to pieces, except for one desk and a couple of chairs that seemed to have escaped the carnage though even they looked rather singed. The walls showed spell damage as well as a significant amount of soot. The floor was a mess of debri, water, and blood diluted by the water swirling about across it. The body had a sheet thrown over it but she knew what it was immediately. Sitting on top of the desk, having his nose set was Bellamy Blake. His outer robe was gone, his face was bruised and his clothing was torn in several places. Clarke Griffin was standing not far from him, her arm in a sling, a green paste slapped on the left side of her head and dried blood running in a line down the side of her face and soaking her collar. Her outer robe was gone as well, though Lexa was fairly certain the cracked silver shield sitting on the ground was the missing robe. After all, the Griffin family was known for their dueling skills for a reason, and transfigured shields that were nearly impenetrable were a family spell long sought after by many of the old families.

Healer Jackson approached them immediately. "Aurors, I'd like permission to take my patients to the hospital wing as soon as possible. Mr. Blake has a serious concussion and the sooner I can get skele-gro into both of them the better."

Nia jerked her chin to the side slightly. "Lincoln escort the students to the medical wing and make sure you clear the hallways along their path. I don't want anyone seeing them. I will be down to take their formal statements after their treatment."

"Ma'am," Lincoln said before turning and offering to help Clarke, who shook her head before following slowly as Bellamy was aided on his way out by Healer Jackson.

"Trikru let's deal with the body for now," Nia snapped.

Lexa walked carefully over to where the body lay. With a sharp swish and flick, she had the sheet moving to the side and off the body. She grimaced at the state the body was in before focusing in on her task. Using a few diagnosis charms, she confirmed that he had died from blood loss. The piece of wood stabbing through his jugular being the obvious culprit. The corpse had multiple contusions across the face. She was confident, from her own personal knowledge backed up by the diagnostic magic she was using, that they were the result of forceful impact with someone's fists. Glancing up at Nia, she spoke evenly. "Death by blood loss, I don't believe Ms. Griffin did this to his face though."

Nia snapped her head towards Sydney. "You did confiscate all the wands involved correct?"

The Headmistress responded carefully, clearly unhappy to see Nia in her school, not that Lexa could blame her. "Of course. Mr. Blake's wand was snapped during the crossfire unfortunately but we kept the pieces. Ms. Griffin's and Mr. Trip's are both intact and at your disposal."

"Acceptable, Trikru you remembered to bring parchment for recording last used spells correct?" There was a dangerous condescending edge to her tone.

She straightened up from the body pulling out a piece of enchanted parchment that would record the last twenty spells of any wand that came in contact with it. The enchantment on it wasn't that complex just an enhanced revelio spell with a component that recorded the data revealed in a written format. She wordlessly handed the standard piece of auror gear over to Nia choosing to ignore the insulting tone. The woman was just trying to get a rise out of her, hoping she would make a mistake in her anger. Lexa would not give Nia the satisfaction of responding to any of her prodding. With that done, she crouched back down beside the body and began to record her observations into her notebook.

Once she was done, she got up and pulled out the large and clunky camera. It was heavy and as she began to take photographs of the scene the smell of the chemicals wafted out of it. It unsettled her to agree with Nia, but she knew their department couldn't afford any budget cuts. They desperately needed some new equipment. Of course, it would help if Nia didn't use her budget for bribes and kickbacks but that wasn't going to be happening anytime soon. She coughed after the billowing smoke from the camera hit her face. It didn't take long to photograph the scene regardless of how old the camera was.

With that done, she walked over to where Nia had left the parchment with the list of spells on it while she spoke to Sydney in hushed tones. Lexa's eyes widened in surprise at the list of spells. Of course, she'd expected some impressive spell work given the state of the room. She'd also expected that Dax's wand would have some unsavory magic on it. He was just the sort to explore dark magic. So, the dark spells he used were unsurprising, just serving to confirm the nature of the conflict and the depths Dax had sunk to in the fight. The dark cutting curses and the wasting curse in particular stood out as something that was meant to maim or kill. She frowned noticing the localized cancelling spell Dax had used between sticking Blake to the floor and the first cutting curse. Actually, she looked back up at the top the list, using a sticking charm after the petrifying one was unusually redundant.

It was Clarke Griffin's magic that surprised her the most and drew her eye away from Dax's spellcasting. The girl she vaguely recalled from school had been a bit of a bookworm. She'd never expected the laundry list of dark magic that was barely legal from her wand. In particular the curse that caused the blood of an opponent to boil caused her to narrow her eyes. If she was right, it had been used because it was a natural progression of wand movement from the shielding charm she'd used before it. That showed not only a willingness to use dark magic but also a certain skill for dueling that had to be long practiced. Spell chains were advanced stuff and the familiarity required to use such a spell in a chain would take hours of thought and practice.

Casting a quick duplication spell on the parchment, she rolled up the extra copy and stuffed it into her pockets before approaching the Headmistress and Nia. Standing at attention, she interrupted during what she thought was a lull in conversation. "Ma'am, permission to take student statements from the general population on the manner of Mr. Trip and Ms. Griffin's behavior recently?"

Nia's eyes bored into her before she spoke. "Go, be useful. I expect you to be circumspect in what you reveal."

"Ma'am," she clicked her heels before turning and leaving the wreckage of the crime scene, making her way out of the cleared area. Coming down the stairs, she could hear the murmur of voices and as soon as she turned the corner, they rose in volume, obviously prompted by them catching sight of her. She knew her auror robes and jacket would make her stand out. She stopped about halfway down the last flight of stairs and held up her hand for silence.

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

Lexa groaned as the last student she planned on interviewing left. Her fingers hurt from writing notes. It would almost be worth it to have a dicta quill if they were more reliable. She was also becoming more and more convinced something was going on in the school. It was odd that none of the students had wanted to speak badly about Griffin. Considering the relations between Slytherin and Gryffindor, she'd been expecting a crowd of Gryffindor students eager to try and throw their Slytherin head girl into the path of an oncoming curse, but they hadn't. Oh sure, a few clearly didn't like her, but other than the occasional snide comment nothing was said against her and many students spoke very highly of her. With Dax, they had been eager to reveal him as a cruel bully and narrated to her all sorts of crimes he had committed against them and against their fellow schoolmates, but Clarke they seemed to respect.

Then there had been her talks with the Slytherins. She expected them to close ranks as they normally did when under outside pressure. They had acted as expected in regards to Griffin, defending the house from outside reproach. However, Dax did not receive the same protection. Though they were not as eager to relate misdeeds as the Gryffindors, the Slytherins still managed to leave the impression that Dax had been out of control. Another surprise had been the Slytherin response to Bellamy. He was obviously not well liked among the house of snakes but they had not attacked him with the vigor she expected. Altogether, she was confounded by the apparent changes that had occurred in Hogwarts only two years after she had left. The social system couldn't have changed that much surely.

Deciding to go over her notes for details she may have forgotten, she walked up the familiar grand staircase. She noted Aden watching her from the top of the stairs. A smile flickered over her face. As she reached the top of the staircase, she reached out and ruffled his hair. Merlin, he'd grown since she'd last seen her cousin. "Aden, you're doing well?"

He nodded. "I'm passing all my classes and haven't been in a fight or received detention since the incident with Ontari." He reported quickly.

She pulled him into a brief hug, it was somewhat awkward, neither of them being particularly used to physical affection. Pulling back, she gave him an approving nod. "I'm proud of you, I know how difficult it can be to not respond to bullies."

"It's been better this year." He said, a low thrum of excitement buzzing under his skin and Lexa could see that he was almost vibrating. "Clarke has been protecting us. She got Bellamy to institute a buddy system so no one who might be a target is ever alone. I like her, she's fair when she handles people like Ontari. Ontari was stripped of Slytherin colors for over a month after what she did to me."

Lexa had a difficult time holding back her surprise, though she could feel her eyes widening. Still, at the same time it explained why the students hadn't spoken badly of her. Although, the fact they hadn't wanted to tell her why was concerning, why hide the fact Griffin was helping them? Ignoring her questions for now, she kept her attention on Aden. "Would you write me everything you know about Dax Trip and Clarke Griffin?"

Aden looked surprised but gave her a nod. "Of course, do you need it before you leave?"

"No, if you send it before bed that should be fine." She knew she needed to leave now and that she'd already spent too much time with her cousin. "I have to go now, watch your back alright?"

He looked serious as he replied. "I will, you do the same."

With a final proud smile, she turned and headed for the infirmary. She saw Lincoln waiting for her outside the doors and came to a halt next to him. "How did their statements go?"

Lincoln was clearly serious, he handed over a duplicate of the testimonies he'd recorded to her. "They're stories match up, and they're injuries fit with it." He grimaced. "We haven't had a call like this at Hogwarts since I started."

Lexa glanced at the closed doors. "Nia's talking with them then?"

"Yes, they don't seem happy about that." He looked rather smug at the fact people outside of their office also found Nia uncomfortable.

"What do you think about this whole thing?" Lexa shifted slightly. "Something just feels off."

Lincoln looked at her curiously. "What do you mean? It's a remarkably straight forward case. Open and shut really."

"That's just it. It's perfectly laid out for us. I spoke with Griffin briefly during the ball and she didn't strike me as the straight forward type. This whole thing is going to be swept under the rug." Her face hardened.

"But isn't that a good thing? Cases like this shouldn't be plastered all over the prophet. It's fortunate that the Trip family is likely to want it buried." Lincoln said, looking at her curiously.

Lexa bit her lip slightly. "Isn't that convenient though? You know as well as I, Nia has already decided to close this case as soon as we return to the ministry and that's going to be that. Griffin and Blake will be left at the school with no consequences and no one will ever speak of this. It's all a bit neat and tidy isn't it?" Which was what she thought was setting off alarms in her head. Everything was fitting too perfectly. There was always something or someone who didn't line up perfectly in a case, this case was a bit too neat and tidy to make Lexa comfortable.

Lincoln looked concerned. "I don't know, what would they be hiding? They're both injured and they clearly didn't do that to themselves or each other."

"I don't know! It could just be me being off since Nia is here, but I need time to look over the facts and we're not likely to get that." She huffed in frustration. Nia screwed with her head whenever she was around.

Lincoln looked sympathetic and his stance relaxed some. "Lexa we just have to make it through this case and she'll leave us alone again."

Lexa squared her shoulders and ignored Lincoln's sympathy. Letting her face fall into a blank mask that she used to survive, she opened the door and slipped into the room. She quickly took in the room. Healer Jackson was standing awkwardly to the side, clearly having done all that he could and now anxious to get his patients to sleep and was unhappy to have them instead be forced to answer questions. Blake was sitting on one of the white cots and grimacing slightly, but he was significantly cleaner and less glassy eyed than when she'd seen him earlier. Griffin was sitting up in her cot and speaking with Nia, who had taken command of the chair beside the bed. Lexa swallowed down her anger at the sight of Nia and approached carefully. As she got closer she could hear some of their conversation.

"I don't wish to ask for reparations from the Trip family of any kind." Griffin's voice was firm, if Lexa had to guess, this wasn't the first time she'd said this.

Nia seemed to shift looking a bit frustrated. "But a crime of this nature demands compensation."

Griffin seemed to blink slowly. "It does, but Dax is dead and he did nothing that can't be healed or repaired. The Trip family will be forced to bury their son, and to do so in private and with shame. That is far more punishment than they deserve to face for their son's crimes. I will not add to their burden in their hour of grief."

"If you insist, I'll inform them you don't wish to seek further action against them." Nia stood up and Lexa straightened as she felt the woman's eyes focus on her.

Nia faced Griffin once more. "If you would excuse me I need to have a word with my auror for a moment."

"Of course," Griffin leaned back into her pillows closing her eyes. Lexa could spot the discomfort in her face. She'd definitely been dosed with skele-gro.

Lexa easily turned and followed Nia into Healer Jackson's office without out a word. As soon as the door shut she spoke. "I interviewed students from every house including the prefects." She handed over the original copy of her transcriptions of the interviews, the duplicate resting in her pocket.

"It seems you haven't screwed this up." Nia remarked icily while flickering her eyes over the notes. "Summarize your findings."

"The students agree that Dax Trip was a terrible bully who let the power of head boy get to his head. He was antagonistic towards Griffin on several occasions. Griffin is well respected across house lines but surprisingly seems particularly liked by Gryffindor house as well as her own. The tutoring program is legitimate and has been newly installed. Blake is working as a tutor for history since he apparently gets high marks in that class. There is nothing that I'm aware of to contradict or cast doubt on their testimonies." She finished professionally and clearly. There was no benefit to voicing her doubts or concerns to Nia after all.

Nia looked unsurprised by this and oddly victorious about it. "I'll be heading back to the offices where the Dax's family has been summoned. I'll inform them of the loss of their son and of the circumstances of that loss. I'll expect a concise report on my desk tomorrow. For now, you and Woods will remain here and see to it that Griffin is protected and has a favorable impression of our department. Both of you will remain here till the end of your shifts. Don't mess this opportunity up. Is that understood?" She was clearly threatening a most ignominious end if either Lexa or Lincoln failed to adhere to her orders.

"Yes ma'am." Lexa replied refusing to engage further if she didn't have to.

"Now get out." Nia turned to the small fireplace in the office and grabbed some floo powder.

Lexa left her to it and left the office and stared at the room. With a roll of her eyes she went and fetched Lincoln from outside the doors. He looked at her curiously and she replied easily. "Guard duty till the end of shift. Might as well get some of the paperwork out of the way."

He grunted and followed her into the room. He went and grabbed a chair from beside one of the empty beds while Lexa easily transfigured a simple table. Pulling a couple of shrunken candles out of one of her inner pockets she unshrunk them and stuck them on the table and lit them. Good lighting was important for paperwork writing after all. A laugh from the side surprised her and she turned to look curiously at Griffin, who looked highly amused.

"You keep candles in your pockets?" the amused sounding Griffin asked. "Is there anything you don't keep in your pockets."

Lexa felt herself flushing slightly, her coworkers were always teasing her about her love of candles. "Being prepared for every eventuality is important Ms. Griffin."

"Clarke, please. Ms. Griffin hardly seems appropriate given the circumstances." Clarke looked pointedly at the white sheets of the bed she was in currently. "I'm not criticizing your preparedness. Really, expandable pockets are terribly unused by our community."

"Right, Clarke then." Lexa frowned slightly. She wasn't sure if she was being teased or not but decided to assume she wasn't being mocked for her preparedness. Mentally placing her thoughts to the side, she spoke clearly. "If you have any need for us, Auror Woods and myself will be available to you for the rest of the evening."

Clarke looked at her silently for a few seconds before nodding in acknowledgement. "Well, I suppose make yourself comfortable then, I don't believe Bellamy or myself will need your assistance. Though your idea to use the time to do some paperwork is a good one."

Blake made a grunting noise from his bed. "I hate skele-gro. Don't you dare give me homework Griffin."

A decidedly amused expression returned to Griffin's face. "What, you think I'd be so cruel as to have you write up history worksheets? You're healing, after you were incapacitated because of me and attempted to save me?"

Blake made a grunt of annoyance before pulling the blankets over his head and clearly ignoring the girl. Lexa watched curiously at the interaction they were having. It wasn't what she would have expected, but it fell in line with several facts from her interviews. Seeing as both of the students seemed to be done speaking for the moment, she started pulling out her various notes, laying them out while accepting the chair from Lincoln.

Once she sat down she began filling out her report quietly while Lincoln did the same, though occasionally they swapped notes. It was as she was going over the photos of the crime scene that something caught her eye. She noticed the tattered, clearly second hand robe lying against the wall. It shouldn't have been there. She frowned and pulled out the interview notes Lincoln had made when he'd helped take their statements. If their statements were correct, Bellamy Blake's outer robe should have been on the ground over to the side, hidden behind several desks. Not against a wall near the entrance. She sat back in her chair and stared, she'd found her piece of evidence that didn't fit. It told her very little except that she was missing something about the situation. Perhaps the errant position of the robe could be easily explained or perhaps it was a sign that the two witnesses were not being as honest as they appeared. What hit her a second later was that there was nothing she could do about it. Nia would not permit her to question Blake and Griffin about it.

Nia had the case neatly wrapped up in a way that optimized her chance at the political favor she so desperately wanted. If she came forward with concerns about the case her career was over. She'd be shuffled off to Azkaban for the rest of her life. Looking up from the table, she stared at Clarke Griffin and Bellamy Blake. Blake seemed to be sleeping while Clarke was reading a transfiguration textbook. They didn't look like murderers, but then a person's looks rarely coincided with their capabilities. Lexa couldn't be sure what happened here, but she had a feeling something more had happened than what they had been told. Lexa hated leaving questions unresolved. She grit her teeth, she couldn't ask any official questions about this, but she could still investigate. She may not have anything solid yet, but she could find it and when she did she could bring that to Nia. Nia may be a monster, but even she had to face facts when they were presented to her in a clear and open manner.

Quickly, she began to fill out her paperwork, leaving it purposely vague in several locations so she need not contradict herself depending on what her later investigation turned up that might shed more light on the matter. It didn't take long before it was all neatly organized and filled out as perfectly as it could be. She carefully duplicated everything and put them into a clean folder. Shrinking the folder, she dropped it easily into her pocket. She was going to look into this. It didn't matter how important or well-connected Griffin was, she was not going to let her or Blake get away with murder. If that was what this was. Lexa was going to find out what had really happened. Aden's letter would be a good place to begin, then a breakdown of what the spells told her about how the fight had proceeded. She could discover a lot and she intended to do it.

"You look serious over there." Clarke said, looking up at her curiously.

Lexa cleared her throat and kept her face carefully blank. "Cases like this are always disturbing."

Clarke winced briefly. "Indeed. Thank you for helping to take care of this."

"Of course," Lexa folded her hands in front of her. "It's our job to protect wizarding citizens and find justice for them."

"That's noble of you. Though I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that a member of your family would hold to those ideals." Clarke said while closing her book.

Lexa felt her shoulders tighten at the mention of her family. They'd died trying to establish the rights and protection of British magical creatures and lower class citizens. That the wizarding government had taken away through years of corruption. While families like Clarke's had sat by doing nothing, if not furthering that corruption. She narrowed her eyes slightly. "The oaths I took as an auror have nothing to do with my family."

Clarke shifted in her bed. "True, but the way you honor and live up to those oaths is commendable and what I'd expect of someone of the Trikru family."

"My family no longer exists for me to live up to their legacy." Lexa replied shortly, her voice tight.

"Your family and their values continue to exist while you and Aden still live." Clarke said, almost challengingly. "Your family may have married below their status and therefore be considered blood traitors, but it doesn't change that your family has shaped who you are."

"You know nothing about the Trikru family." Lexa snapped firmly. She winced and opened her mouth to apologize, Nia would murder her for insulting Clarke Griffin.

Clarke held up her hand stopping her. "No, you're right. I spoke from my knowledge of gossip and rumor. Not to mention, I'm sure coming from me any comments on your family are unwelcome. I apologize."

Lexa breathed out and nodded her acceptance. "I should not have contradicted you. Protection, honor, and justice were always values of the Trikru family."

Clarke looked at her for a moment before opening her book again, clearly understanding the topic was closed. With the new silence, Lexa went back to the paperwork, ignoring the looks Lincoln was giving her. It was as she was running through the spells cast that a detail she'd noticed earlier suddenly snapped into prominence. The partial cancellation charm. She sat back in her chair staring at the spells again. Dax had cast silencing spells before a petrifying charm, a sticking charm and a partial cancellation. Then he'd cast a cutting hex, which looking at the exact hex used wasn't a common one used for combat. In fact, she frowned it was a common hex for cutting small items, or in some cases torture. She pulled out a fresh piece of parchment and listed out how it would have gone if she was right in several assumptions.

Dax had laid in wait, petrified Bellamy and then if the location of the cloak was correct attached him to the wall before unpetrifying a part of him. She frowned and glanced at Clarke's spell. What had she been shielding against. The spell used before the shield charm had been an ink drying spell so it was easy to tell when Clarke's wand had first been used in the conflict. She bit her lip, the Griffin family was famous for their shields and dueling prowess. So, if Clarke Griffin had used a shield charm, she had used the one that was best suited for the situation. However, she'd used 'protegio' the first shield charm a student learned, why? It was quick and blocked most low level hex's and jinxes. It would have blocked Dax's cutting curse but again that was a foolish opening curse from him. Unless, it hadn't been meant for Clarke. The protegio could be projected some distance from the caster making it ideal for covering allies. So, Dax immobilized Blake then, unfroze part of him before casting a cutting curse at him. It wasn't hard to put the pieces together. Dax Trip had lured Bellamy Blake away from the crowd, immobilized him and proceeded to attempt to torture him in a prepared room. Clarke had interrupted.

Still, this was all conjecture and Nia would never accept it. Also it left the question of why? If what the evidence suggested was true, there was no reason to lie, it was still self-defense. The charge of attempted rape didn't make sense if Dax was still the aggressor and the more she looked into this the more she was convinced he was. Except for there to be torture, Dax had to have wanted to know something. If Griffin and Blake were covering something up, then too many questions would be something they wouldn't want. Attempted rape was the perfect cover then, no one would poke around in a crime like that. Open and shut, and with Clarke's position minimal investigation. Really, it had basically been closed since they'd arrived and the facts fit at first glance. What on earth would Bellamy Blake and Clarke Griffin have in common that they would both be willing to risk being charged with perjury?

Lexa was surprised when Clarke spoke up again. "If you need the backing of a sponsor, to live up those ideals of your family, owl me. They are something worth fighting for and I would be glad to help if I can."

Staring with her jaw open was not attractive or proper for an auror, but Lexa couldn't help it. Every time she started to get a handle on Clarke it was promptly broken. What Clarke was offering was invaluable, but also not expected. "Thank you."

She watched as Clarke wordlessly went back to her book. Lincoln was trying to get her attention but she ignored him. She was unsure if this was a genuine offer or if it was a bribe to not look too closely. Whatever it was, she had no wish to be in Clarke Griffin's debt if she could help it. She was going to find out what was going on with Clarke and Bellamy. Whatever it was, they considered it worth the risk of legal repercussions. Something that had led to Dax's break down and his subsequent fall from grace. Nia may not allow her to pursue this investigation further, but Nia didn't need to know. Something was going on at Hogwarts and she was going to find out what.


	24. Chapter 24

Clarke knew she was taking a risk but in the aftermath of Dax's death she had realized that safety was an illusion she could ill afford. She might have preferred to give Callie the time she needed to come to her own decision about whether to join fully with Clarke by taking the oath, but with Dax's death came the realization that they did not have the luxury of playing it safe or casually. This was a risk and confrontation she had been avoiding but no more. With that in mind she apparated with a crack out from Hogsmeade and landed with a twist in front of the Cartwig family home. She walked along the path towards the old stone home. It had once been a small cottage, but had grown with various add-ons through the centuries. Still, it retained a simplicity with its stone and climbing vines that none of her own properties possessed. The grounds were well kept and she enjoyed the brisk walk through the snow that wouldn't be lasting much longer. Already, along the edges of the path, it was more slush than snow. As she approached she saw the door opening and Callie waiting for her looking mildly confused. "Clarke, did we have an appointment?"

Shaking her head, she approached. "No, I'm afraid it's rude of me, but I have some paperwork I think you'd like to see before I introduce it in the Wizengamot tomorrow."

Calli's face instantly turned from bemused to serious as she ushered Clarke into her home. "Of course, I appreciate the gesture."

They walked into the entryway and Callie led them into her office easily. She walked over to one of the winged back chairs around a low table and went to sit down only to pause seeing Clarke hadn't followed her. "Clarke?"

"Would it insult you if I placed privacy wards before we speak." Clarke asked.

Calli looked resigned and pulled her own wand out to cast the spells herself. Clarke watched as she cast several privacy spells along the room. Satisfied, Clarke walked over and sat across from her godmother. "Thank you."

"You're not here about any bills. You're here about your father's murder." Callie said, sinking back into her chair in exhaustion.

Clarke nodded. "Yes, you implied you were convinced in your last letter." She'd been relieved when she received the letter that had vaguely alluded to the matter. Callie had claimed to have looked into that book she recommended on her last visit and found she agreed with Clarke's interpretation. It had been an obvious veiled reference to their conversation about her father's death. She hoped that having convinced Callie of her father's murder would make recruiting her less of an imposition. "However, the bills are real. They're the next step in a process."

For a minute Callie looked unbearably sad. "Clarke I've known you since you were a child." She smiled but her eyes stayed sad. "You were always a stubborn, serious little thing. Could never let anything go unless you were forced and even then never without a fight. I remember the Christmas one of Wells' cousins stole this enchanted toy knight he'd gotten. You punched that little kid in the face and stood in the corner with your head held high for the entire day, because you wouldn't apologize. Your mother tried all sorts of punishments from time out to going without dinner but you were adamant that you wouldn't apologize until he apologized to Wells. I'm fairly certain you still haven't spoken to that boy to this day." Callie folded her hands. "That was a childhood spat. So, what exactly are you planning now? I know you, and you always see things through, and the murder of Jake is something you would never let go of no matter what it cost you."

Clarke pulled the folder with the drafted bills out and set them on the table between them and pushed them towards Callie. "I'm going to see my father's work though. He made too many compromises trying to keep his party happy. I'm creating a new party instead of trying to put a fresh face on an old party. Jaha took my father's position, I'm going to take it back. My mother stole his family seat, I've taken it. Kane secured his businesses in trade, I'm going to make new businesses better and more successful than the old. They established a political monopoly where the two parties that control everything disagree on trivialities. So, I'm going to bring their parties to the ground. The magical world has been stagnant for too long."

Callie took in a deep shuddering breath. "Clarke, you're seventeen. You've accomplished so much, but what you're suggesting will take you a lifetime. You won't be the same person at the other end. I swore to care for you but this, I can't support this. It will be the death of you."

"You said you know me. You know I will never let this go. There is no other path for me. It's already started. If you want to protect me, do so by helping me to succeed." Clarke stared at her, challenging the woman. "Your best friend was murdered. The change and reform you believed in was reversed and instead things were made even worse. Your family won't speak to you because you refuse to follow the traditional path laid out for you. I know you're aware of the corruption and inefficiency in the government. Don't tell me you don't know where we're headed with the muggleborns and creatures. This country needs a change of course or it will fall."

"I know." Callie winced at admitting it. "Things need to change but you don't need to be the one to do it. They will kill you if they realize what you're doing, just like they did your father."

Clarke raised an eyebrow. "If not me, then who? I have the political influence and the drive. No one else is prepared to do what needs to be done. Besides, Callie you already said it. I'm seventeen who in their right mind would expect me to be able to pull off a political revolution? They will underestimate me and look down on me until it is too late. You just have to decide what role you're going to play in the coming conflict. You could just be involved with the politics or you could be a part of the bigger picture."

"What? What are you talking about? What bigger picture?" Callie demanded, sitting up straight instantly on alert. Then her face paled. "Please tell me you haven't done anything extreme! Surely, you haven't done anything that can't be fixed."

Clarke's expression was grim and she didn't say anything at first, just meeting Callie's alarmed gaze. "I can't tell you that until you have made certain oaths. You said you know me? I know you. I also know that you did several papers for the prophet on ancient dark lords and are aware of what the Oath of Hera is."

"Clarke…what have you done?" Callie whispered in horror.

Clarke stood up, walking over to the fireplace staring into the dancing flames. "What had to be done." Looking over her shoulder, she saw the deathly pale face of her godmother. "We're going to change everything."

"Thalia?" Callie asked hoarsely.

Turning so that she was fully facing the woman, Clarke felt empathy for the position she was putting her in right now. "Your niece has been a steadfast friend to me since we were sorted into Slytherin. We have supported each other through thick and thin. A fact I was most thankful for after the death of Wells. There isn't much more I can tell you until you have taken the oath."

"You want me to take an oath of Hera." Callie said her face loosening in shock.

Nodding, Clarke walked back over retaking her seat. "Yes, I want you by my side and for you to be a part of changing our country. Not just for your political influence either. I trust you and respect you and that is not something I say lightly. However, this is a risky business and the oath is a necessary security measure. You can't tell me you don't want justice?"

"Do you think revenge is going to make you feel better?" Callie asked, avoiding the question.

"No, nothing will ever make my father's death better, but we have a chance to make it mean something. Our world is on the brink of self-destruction. You recognized that over fifteen years ago."

Callie seemed to slump and closed her eyes. "You're right, about all of it. Jaha's administration is leading us to ruin. I looked into it after the last time we talked. You're right, but Clarke people are going to die. Are you truly ready for that? Prepared for what that will mean?"

"They already have." Clarke swallowed thickly, avoiding the phantom feeling of Dax's blood, hot and sticky gushing over her hand, knowing that Callie would think it a reference to her father. "What Jaha and Kane are doing is going to kill people regardless. We might as well fight back."

"Merlin." Callie breathed out, she looked up at Clarke.

Clarke winced slightly. "I'm sorry for backing you into a corner about the rebellion, but I need to secure your loyalty. You know too much and are too likely to figure things out on your own for me to be able to leave your loyalty in question. You can't turn me in it would only bring yourself a swift death. Jaha would never let someone who knew about my father's death survive. The only way to survive it would be to convince them you are on their side and you have been too contentious for too long for that to work. Having shown your support for me in the Wizengamot, you will already be a target if Jaha determines that I'm a threat. It will look like you are on my side regardless of what you claim. You are already in this situation, whether you want to be or not. Your only choice here is whether to be an informed and active member of our rebellion or an assumed supporter who has no clue what is really happening."

Callie laughed, though it was anything but a cheerful sound. "You always were too smart for your own good." She shook her head.

"I'm hoping It helps I'm offering you the chance to see your own goals realized." Clarke's mouth twitched up. "You gave up after my father's death, this is a new chance."

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Callie glanced at the folder on the table. "Why the bills?"

"Proof of what I stand for and what I'm trying to do. Besides the oath of course, which is evidence enough really. The first two bills I'll be submitting, the Excellence in Magical Education Act, and the Teaching Excellence Act will be the first steps to a better magical society."

Callie reached out picking up the folder. "Well I suppose I should read up on them before I take the oath."

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

Clarke walked into the Room of Requirement, currently it was holding the form of an office. She noted Bellamy pacing while Octavia and Raven talked in one corner. Sterling, Harper, and Monroe were sprawled over a couch together, flicking feathers up in the air with their wands while Jasper and Monty were tossing treats at each other. Fox looked like she was actually working on homework with Thalia and Roma. Sighing, she nodded at Miller, they were all here then.

"Did she take the oath?" Bellamy demanded the instant the door closed behind her.

She felt the weight of what she'd just done settling over her once more but nodded. "Yes, Callie Cartwig is one of us now."

Thalia caught her eye and flinched in acknowledgement that it had been necessary to strong-arm her aunt into joining. The others seemed to relax while Clarke walked over to a comfy chair and flopped down unceremoniously and loosened her tie. "We need to advance in other areas. Callie joining won't keep morale up with students so far removed from the political cogs."

Bellamy crossed his arms. "What can we do? We're students. We can't all leave school grounds as often as we please," he challenged.

Clarke pinched her nose in exhaustion while closing her eyes. "We are growing fast. We need to establish a command structure outside of me running politics while you run manpower. It will also give goals to our recruits."

She could hear Bellamy letting out a breath. "You're right, we have too many people for me to keep track of them all."

"Do we really have to keep you that separate from the main rebellion?" Roma asked, looking at her with a slight crease in her brow.

"I'm barely surviving right now, and long term I can't keep up this pace without developing a dependency on potions. We need to divide the workload. I'd suggest we do something like how I'm using the fourth years to do research for political legislation. They have the most time available out of all of our members and honestly we should keep them away from any tasks that could lead to physical harm. Giving them tasks that help out will help them feel useful and free up older students for more difficult tasks."

Harper shifted. "You mentioned you'd consider me as a secretary outside of Hogwarts. I could do that, help to lighten your load. It would let me contribute once I graduate."

"You're a muggleborn Harper. Are you sure you can take dealing with the most entrenched blood purists in the wizarding world on a daily basis?" Clarke asked her seriously.

She shifted, but then nodded resolutely. "Yes, if it means bringing them down, I can take it."

"Good, I'll send Tris with some beginning informational books on the political system and the ins and outs of pureblood manners for you to familiarize yourself with so that you will be prepared." Clarke said, accepting that Harper was willing to serve as her secretary. She'd have a lot of work to do, but a loyal secretary was important and she knew Harper was intelligent and driven enough to succeed in the disheartening role.

Bellamy spoke, his voice easily commanding the room. "We need to advance the tutoring program into an active combat training program for members of the rebellion. No one is mentioning it, but I was nearly helpless against Dax. He took me by surprise and I barely knew a quarter of the spells he and you were throwing around Princess."

Clarke winced at the reminder of Dax. "You're not the only one who performed poorly. As soon as I shifted my attention to protecting you and it moved to a fight from a formal duel, I was blindsided."

"We need Professor Miller to teach us how to fight, and we need to learn the types of spells that Hogwarts isn't going to teach us." Bellamy said firmly. "Can you teach us curses like the ones you were using?" He looked over at her.

Clarke shook her head. "I could, and I'd be happy to share several texts that most pureblood households have. However, formal dueling skills aren't enough to save us from aurors when they show up to arrest us."

"So, my dad needs to be recruited formally then?" Miller said from where he was standing.

Bellamy raised his wand and flicked it at the wall causing a chalkboard to drop down and a piece of chalk to start to write down 'Recruit Professor Miller'. Looking away from the still writing chalk, he spoke. "Miller and I can do it after our meeting. He's already halfway recruited anyways."

Thalia added in her thoughts. "Clarke is an excellent dueler but I'm capable enough to lead that training."

"Good." Bellamy said flicking his wand so that 'Pureblood dueling magic' was added to the board. "We can stagger combat training for members here on weekends so we can learn how to defend ourselves. However, we still need to do something to make progress in the rebellion and not just training. We can't just keep preparing. The magical world isn't going to wait for us to be ready."

Clarke grimaced. "You're right, but what can we do? We have the manpower but our ability to affect the greater magical world is still hampered by the fact the majority of us are underage. Not to mention, we're just in the beginning stages of preparing. Hasty actions without proper preparation will land us in Azkaban. The aurors would sniff us out and crush us within hours if we actually tried anything."

"So, what if we do something that doesn't put us at risk from aurors?" Raven asked with a smirk that told everyone she had an idea.

Bellamy frowned. "What are you thinking?"

"Simple, so physically doing something isn't feasible. We're not organized and none of us want to end up in Azkaban. So, let's do something that doesn't require a physical presence." She shrugged.

"How?" Clarke asked. She was far too tired to follow along with Raven's train of thought.

Raven rolled her eyes. "The radio people. The magical world is so behind the times because magic doesn't work well with electricity. So, how do we all get our news? The radio and the Prophet. Hijacking the Prophet is far beyond us, at least for now, but I can enable us to take over the wizarding wireless."

Bellamy smiled wickedly. "So, we tell the people about the problems that face our world and the people causing them, make the big hats uncomfortable. It'd help with recruitment outside of Hogwarts too."

"We'd have to be careful about what we said." Clarke cautioned, although she knew her words were being weakened by her expression. "You're right though Raven, that would make a good coming out method."

Roma laughed, "We'd be all over the Prophet the next day anyways if we interrupted a ministerial broadcast."

"How long till you can have a system ready to do that?" Clarke asked her friend curiously.

Raven scoffed, "A week, maybe two, depending on how the wards affect the signal."

"We can work on a script while you work that out." Bellamy rubbed his chin in thought. "Okay, so we'll need more than just that if we want people to take us seriously."

"What about graffiti?" Miller asked. "I mean we come up with a symbol for our rebellion and leave it everywhere. We do have a house elf and I'm sure Princess here could get enough of us out into the world for a night of defacing public property."

Clarke considered the logistics of it. "I could. We'd have to be careful and have every location of a symbol planned out to avoid being caught. Tris could do some of the riskier ones if she volunteers for it of course."

Bellamy waved his wand, writing out the new decisions on the chalkboard. "Roma could you design some options for the graffiti?"

"Of course, like I'd trust you to do it. You have the creativity of a troll." She snarked at him while flipping her hair.

Octavia frowned, "If Bellamy is working on a coming out of the shadows speech, and Clarke and Harper are in politics hell, who exactly is going to be running and coordinating the self-defense and combat training?"

"Why don't you do it?" Clarke asked, pleased at the easy way to help delegate some of Bellamy's side of things. They needed his grades to not drop anyways.

Bellamy's head snapped around instantly irate. "What?! No, my sister is not running a combat class. Out of the question."

Clarke spoke quickly, seeing Octavia turning a shade of red indicating her brother was about to be verbally destroyed. "Bell, you need the help." She held up her hand when she saw him opening his mouth to object. "Not to mention, you want your sister to be the most prepared she can possibly be to protect herself. I don't see how letting her accomplish that in a safe environment is dangerous."

Bellamy looked fairly mutinous but he relaxed his stance. "Fine," turning to Octavia, he held up his finger. "You are going to be careful though."

Octavia rolled her eyes. "I can handle myself Bell."

"Moving on," Clarke hurried to add, "We all need to learn more than combat. Combat should always be a last resort. So, make sure distractions and evasion tactics are in the training regime O. Your pranks should actually be a great starting point for coming up with ways to non-violently distract and slow down an opposing force." Running a hand through her hair, she sighed. "I need to recruit Jackson. We need all of us to be trained in basic first aid, not just me."

Bellamy waved his wand and sent the chalk skittering across the chalkboard filling in their various tasks. He paused suddenly. "We're going to need the buddy system working at top capacity. With Dax dead we don't know if anyone will try and retaliate."

Fox groaned, "That's not going to be a problem. The purebloods were distancing themselves from him even before he went completely crazy. If anything, they will be keeping their heads down right now."

"Are you sure?" Clarke asked. She was fairly certain Fox had the correct measure of the situation but double checking was never a bad practice.

"I agree with Fox. Slytherin is going to be keeping its head down. I doubt purebloods from the other houses will act out on their own." Thalia said seriously. "Besides it's social and political suicide to go against you right now Clarke. You do realize without Dax you now hold the head position on your own? That's not even taking into account you sitting on the Wizengamot. You've always taken a hard line with bullies. No one wants to be in your bad books right now."

Bellamy shook his head. "Even so, we need to encourage the buddies to be on alert. Moving on, is there anything else we need to address right now?"

Sterling spoke up, "It's not so much something the rebellion needs to deal with, but those of us that are going to be graduating need to be finding jobs that will give us ways to help out if we can. Like Harper with working as a secretary, or Raven, Monty, and Jasper's shop. Those sorts of things."

Clarke stood up and spoke easily. "Not all of us are going to get inherited positions, in fact most of you won't. Getting jobs like those straight out of Hogwarts, especially for those without pure blood, will be almost impossible. Take whatever opportunities you can find. If a job as a clerk for a shop opens up, take it. This rebellion won't live or die based off a single entry level job. The important part is thinking of ways to make those jobs work for us. A shop clerk has access to a lot of people. If we want to plan things with wide effects, placing signs or pranks in shops where there is a lot of people traffic will help to spread things quickly. It may be nice to have people in the auror's office or the ministry but for some people that is just not an option and every little bit counts."

"Princess is right." Bellamy said rubbing his head. "I'm trying to get a job with an antiquity dealer, Pike Farmer." He shrugged. "We need to be able to support ourselves first and foremost."

Clarke looked over the group. "Also, if any of you guys have any ideas to help us bring in funds, that would be remarkably helpful. I can't bankroll us all, and neither can Raven and the boys. Their inventions are still theirs."

Miller groaned. "So brainstorming and research then?"

"I can get some of the fifth years on that." Monroe volunteered. "There should be some ways to take advantage of a more integrated approach to magic and muggle ways."

Bellamy clapped his hands. "I think we're done for tonight. Same time tomorrow with any updates. We need to be moving on these things."

Clarke collapsed into her chair as the group left one by one. She knew Raven and the boys would be cornering her tomorrow morning for more information but she didn't have it in her to handle that at the moment. As the door closed for a final time, she breathed out, intending to just sit there for a while before she had to leave.

"So, you going to tell me why you look like you got hit with a bludger?" Bellamy asked, dropping down across from her.

She looked up at him deciding against raising any of her shields. "I"m fine, I just emotionally blackmailed my godmother into joining a rebellion against the government." Her voice was lacking the bite she'd intended just sounding exhausted and sad.

"Hey, you're the one who said she supported our ideology. She's doing what she wanted to back when she first started," he said. "And she took the oath, it's not like the oath can be made unwillingly."

Clarke laughed, though it was devoid of any humor. "Would you say the same thing if it was Octavia I convinced to join like that?"

His face twisted before looking resigned and sinking into his own chair. "No…no I wouldn't."

They sat in silence with the flames from the fire flickering across the room, the crackling of the fire devouring the logs the only sound in the room. Bellamy broke the quiet after a time. "So, how are you feeling about talking on live air for the rebellion?"

Clarke tilted her head and looked him in slight exasperation. "I'm not going to be the one talking on the radio Bellamy."

"What?" Bellamy's face scrunched up in confusion. "You're our leader."

"Co-leader." She corrected him gently. "We both know that my place is on the Wizengamot and your place is the head of this phase of the rebellion. You're the one that people will follow."

"Well damn." He stared at the fire before looking back at her. "Is this how you feel all the time?"

"If you mean the crushing weight of expectation and duty, then yes," she said wryly.

He groaned, "I need a drink. Hell, we both need a drink." Standing up, he offered her his hand. "Let's get out of this place and go get one."

She raised an eyebrow. "Bellamy Blake are you asking me to sneak us out of Hogwarts on a school night to go to a seedy bar so we can drown our sorrows?"

"Yup. Come on Princess, live a little." He dared her.

Smiling fondly, she took his hand and let him pull her out of her seat. Raising her wand, she grinned mischievously at him. "First we're going to have to make sure no one recognizes us."

"You're kinda scaring me there Princess."

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

An hour later they were in a dim bar in Godric's Hallow, one of the more magical neighborhoods in Britain. It was a place with rich aged wood, worn counters, and clean glasses, if you didn't look too hard. Bellamy followed Clarke to a booth in the corner. He raised two fingers in the air and the bartender quickly took their order. Clarke casually threw up a privacy spell as she took her seat.

Bellamy grinned at her as he slid a firewhiskey over ice towards her. "Come on Princess, drink up."

She picked it up, sipping at it, enjoying the burn. Glaring at him without much heat, she spoke up, "You're absolutely horrible at human transfiguration, you know that right?"

"What?" He glanced towards her, looking far too pleased with himself. "You're saying the warty nose and red hair doesn't suit you?"

"First off," she started, leveling him with a glare. "This is not a naturally occurring shade of red, and warts, really?"

He shrugged, taking a drink from his glass while his eyes gave away his amusement. "You did me, I did you."

"Yes, and I made you a blond with a facial tattoo not a cartoon muggle witch." She muttered as she took another long drink from her glass.

He snorted, "How do you even know what a muggle witch looks like?"

"Raven," She replied easily, rolling her eyes and letting her annoyance dissipate. It wasn't that she minded him giving her unattractive features, really her looks were more a tool than anything else to her. It was the principle of the matter that irked her, she couldn't just let him get away with something like this, though privately she was a bit amused.

"She's brilliant." He said with a sort of open awe that pleased Clarke.

"She's going to change our world with her inventions or I'll eat my right hand." Clarke affirmed.

Bellamy put his elbows on the wooden table. "So, tell me Princess, are you going to do that interview with the Prophet they asked for on your last trip to the Wizengamot?"

She rolled her eyes. "Of course, we'll need to win elected seats and publicity is important for that. I'm waiting till after session tomorrow when I introduce the new bills though. Should guarantee we're the front page, maybe even a full page spread."

"How on earth did someone as Slytherin to the bone as you come from the bloodline of Gryffindor?"

Clarke considered his question, she had a feeling it was meant to be joking but it was an interesting question anyway. "I'm sure you've read any number of the theories on why houses run in families from it being caused by expectations, or by environment, or even by genetic disposition. I don't know if you remember, but the hat took a while with me. It said I had the qualities of all of the houses but that my strongest trait was cunning. I was loyal but only to those who'd earned it. I was curious but only about things that I deemed useful." She ran her forefinger around the rim of her glass. "I wanted to be in Gryffindor like my father but the hat wouldn't let me. I was brave enough for it but apparently my bravery wasn't the right sort. It wasn't the bravery of the noble at heart it was the bravery of someone who would do anything to accomplish their goal." She picked up her glass knocking it back, the burn up and down her throat was painful and pleasant at the same time.

Bellamy smiled softly. "I wanted to be in Slytherin you know." She looked at him disbelievingly.

"No, really. I thought if I was in Slytherin, I could learn the stuff necessary to be scary enough that no one would ever bother my family ever again." He said seriously.

Clarke laughed. "That has got to be the most Gryffindorish thing I have ever heard."

"I know right?" He grinned at her before downing his own drink and waving the bartender over to refill their glasses.

They sat in companionable silence till the man had left them alone again.

"Why are you avoiding Raven and the boys?" He asked. "Don't blow me off. She's noticed, we all have."

She looked morosely at the bottom of her glass. "How can I look them in the eyes and spend time with them when there will be so many muggleborns and half-bloods paying the price, some paying the ultimate price in this struggle against bigotry. The subtle subversive approach I have to take politically requires me to be a complicit participant in the very actions we're trying to stop. There are so many I won't be able to protect. So many that I will be a part of condemning before I get the support to change things. They deserve better than that. They deserve better than a friend who shows one face to them and a different face to the world."

Bellamy grimaced and took a drink of his new fire whiskey. "You're a lot of things Princess but two-faced isn't one of them."

"Thanks, but the role I have to play requires compromises that are hard to bear. I'm going to have to vote on bills that are going to take rights away from muggleborns and half-bloods if I want to keep some of my political alliances. I may be playing a role that is not who I really am, but it has real life consequences that others will have to deal with, not me. That is a hard thing to face."

"Can you abstain? Like say you're not informed enough on the issue?" He suggested helpfully.

She shook her head, wishing it was that easy. "For some of them, but for all of them? Someone would notice."

"So, talk to them. I mean you can't just isolate yourself because you feel guilty. You'll go crazy. I don't know if you've noticed we're already crazy enough."

Clarke smiled at him raising her glass. "To being crazy then."

He clinked his glass against hers and they both took long draws of their drinks. Blinking from the burn that caused her eyes to water slightly, she answered the question in his eyes. "I'll talk to them tomorrow."


	25. Chapter 25

Bellamy reared back from the old charms room door while clamping a hand over his face. "Sweet Merlin what is that!?"

"Yo!" Jasper's voice came from inside the room. "Bubble head charm dude, first rule of the experiment room."

Cringing from the truly horrendous stench billowing out of the charms room, Bellamy quickly cast a bubble around his head. Gratefully, he breathed in clean air even though his eyes were still burning. "What the hell is that?"

Jasper's face was distorted by a bubble and the goggles that were settled snugly over his eyes. They caused his eyes to look like they covered a quarter of his head. It made the grin he shot Bellamy rather disturbing. "Hot pepper and centaur dung! We got a good deal with them, they thought it was fabulous when we explained why we wanted it."

"Why would you want it?!" Bellamy asked in horrified exasperation. He realized Harper and Monty were both poking various leaves with their wands, their brows scrunched. The bubble head charms made them all look ridiculous.

"Distraction, duh," Jasper blinked his large eyes at him, like Bellamy was an idiot. "The only problem is that the pepper and the dung don't really cause enough smoke when burning. We're trying to find an ingredient that will give appropriate smoke cover."

"You're making smoke bombs?" Bellamy asked as he started to understand what was happening. "Those already exist, why do we need to make our own…and foul ones at that."

"You think a traditional smoke bomb would work on aurors? They'd clear it in an instant." Jasper crossed his arms, looking down his nose at him. "Also, they don't come in cool colors. We have to make an impression. Maximize confusion and all that."

"How close are you?" Jasper had a point, something this pungent would at least make aurors baulk for a moment.

Jasper grinned brightly his eyes somehow looking even bigger. "We just started yesterday! It's promising. We need a proper mix for the smoke so we can have it change colors. Of course, it can't just cause smoke it also has to be resistant to magical attempts to dispel it. It needs to be more of a fog that clings to the ground and doesn't just rise up and disperse on its own or due to a breeze summoned by a clever auror."

Bellamy couldn't believe he was getting help pranking aurors from a Hufflepuff. Weren't they supposed to be the nice ones? "Have you asked Miller for help? He's talented at enchantment."

"Naw," Jasper waved off the suggestion. "We're trying to make the formula simple so we can get the younger years to make these bad boys for us. Gotta give the minion's minions something to do and all that."

"Minion's minions?" Bellamy asked dreading the answer.

Jasper nodded seriously looking like some sort of ridiculous muggle bobble head. "Well, we're all your and Clarke's minions. The younger years work for us not you directly, so that makes them the minions of the minions. Minion hierarchy and all that."

Monty snorted. "Just ignore him."

"Right…" Bellamy looked at the group and stepped back carefully. "So are you all good then, not in need of anything?"

"Unless you have some extra gunpowder on your person?" Jasper looked at him hopefully.

Bellamy backtracked closer to the door. "Just send a request to Raven on the JEMS."

"Got it boss!" Jasper saluted him before turning back to a crate of what Bellamy was fairly sure was centaur dung.

At that Bellamy gave a forced smile and then made a break for it. There was no way he was hanging around for a more thorough debriefing. Clarke could deal with the smell if she wanted to know more. Which left him to his next check, finding Raven. If she wasn't in the converted charms room, now their experiment room, it meant his best bet was the Ravenclaw tower. He'd never actually been in the tower before but his new hours spent with members of the house had informed him of the location. The climb up to the tower was long and he was just muttering to himself that it was probably the only exercise some of the Ravenclaw brainiacs ever got when he arrived at a door without a handle and just an eagle knocker.

There was a group of five Ravenclaws standing in front of it arguing about the nature of banished objects. Surely one of them would be willing to fetch Raven for him. "Um...can one of you just tell it the password and go in? I was hoping you would be able to tell my friend Raven I am looking for her."

A highly unimpressed third year he vaguely recognized as a second-string seeker for Ravenclaw stared at him. "We're trying," Turning away, she muttered, "Gryffindors."

He gaped for a moment. "You're arguing about where banished objects go? How is that a password? Anyways the obvious answer is a pocket dimension."

The door swung open, and the third years stared at him in disbelief. "How did you get that? You didn't even hear the riddle?"

"Your door uses a riddle?" He asked in surprise.

"Duh." The same girl said, rolling her eyes before turning to her friends. "Beginners luck."

They all nodded solemnly before heading into their common room. Bellamy only moved in time to catch the wrist of one of the third years. "Could you get Raven for me?" The Ravenclaw sighed before nodding. Ravenclaws were odd ducks. Before long, the boy, whose wrist he'd grabbed, returned.

"She's in the study room for experiments down the hall. Do you need me to take you there?" He asked with a slight hint of exasperation that showed he didn't really want to do it.

"I think I will be able to find her. Thanks." Bellamy replied and the boy left without another word. It was just like the Ravenclaws to have designated study rooms near their common rooms. Shaking his head, he made his way down the hall peering in each classroom before moving on to the next. He finally found her in a room where he could feel the weight of the wards as he entered. She was fiddling with a very large radio, or more like the innards of a radio. Sitting on the table since there wasn't a second chair he caught her frustrated gaze. "In a public study room? Really?"

"There are silencing enchantments on every study table in the room." Raven said simply while going back to reconnecting wires. "And I always fiddle with muggle tech, it's more odd if I don't."

He shrugged, it was a valid point. Raven had an almost constant smear of grease across her face and black grease had long since worked into her nail beds. "The potion twins ask you for gunpowder yet?"

She rolled her eyes, "Of course." Tapping a small piece of metal against the table to try and dislodge something, she kept talking. "I already told them I'm out and they'll have to order their own. Honestly, just mail order ammunition from America. We have magical mailing services to avoid muggle mail regulations. No big deal."

"You told the potion twins how to order gunpowder?" He asked in resignation, knowing that the castle would be lucky to still stand by the end of the school year.

"Yup," She popped the p. "My JEMS are brilliant, aren't they?"

He nodded reluctantly. "They are…they really are."

Bellamy felt a sudden prickle of apprehension that he was learning was a side effect of being friends with Raven 'I make things go boom' Reyes. "How much gunpowder do you have ordered right now?"

"I convinced Clarke that six kegs were completely reasonable for a startup company and rebellion in early stages of manufacturing new items." There was an amused twinkle to her eye that he knew meant trouble.

"How much is in a keg?" He asked closing his eyes and pinching his nose. Merlin why was he the responsible one? He was not meant for responsibility.

She grinned fully this time. "Twenty-five pounds a keg. Course it's low end powder and I'll have to refine it for it to be of any use but for that price? So worth it. What was so pressing you had to come personally to distract me from my work?" She asked cocking her head to the side and giving him her full attention for the first time since he'd arrived.

"I wanted to check in to see how the radio was going. Make sure you remember to eat before training with the upper years tonight. I noticed you haven't been attending meals." Bellamy shrugged, "I also wanted to make sure you hadn't blown yourself up since the last time I saw you."

"Well that's sweet." She pointed what he thought was a screwdriver at him. "Radio's fine. Should have it up and fully functioning in another day or so unless I have an eureka moment. Which let's hope happens cause enchanting is finicky as hell."

"Are you borrowing Miller for it later?" He asked curiously.

"Obviously," she looked at him like he was an idiot. Really people needed to stop looking at him like that.

"We already went over theoretically what should work enchantment wise. It's just getting it all to function as part of a web of interlocking spells that's the issue really. Grounding something this delicate is hard, even for a genius like me."

"Look, do I need to send one of the kitchen elves up with some food for you?" He asked finally.

Raven frowned. "Ugh, no need to bother the elves on my account."

He rolled his eyes. "The elves would love the extra work. They're crazy like that. So, if you need someone to keep track of your food intake, I won't hesitate to ask them."

She sighed. "Fine, I haven't eaten since dinner... yesterday I think." She scrunched up her face clearly trying to figure out when she had last eaten before shrugging off his concerns. "I'll make it to training though, wouldn't miss it for the world."

He laughed, "Try not to blow us all up please."

"No promises," She goaded merrily.

Dropping off the table, he dug his hands into his pockets. "Well if you're good, we've got the fifth years in the Room of Requirements working with Professor Miller and I promised to help out."

"Good luck with the troops. Oh, and Bell," she looked at him seriously, "don't burn out."

He scoffed. "Please, organizing weekend war training isn't that hard. You lot are doing the hard stuff."

"It's our sacred duty as your minions." Raven said with fake solemnity.

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

Bellamy was laughing as he transfigured various pillows into large fluffy rats and sent them to flush out the opposition. He waited till he heard a startled yelp and then he shot up above the low walls of the maze in the ROR and shot out stunning spells at the disrupted fifth years. He ducked back down once those that hadn't stuck their heads out returned fire. He felt the fizzle as a stunning spell ruffled his hair as it flew by him.

A kid pulled at his sleeve slightly and glared at him. Bellamy felt some guilt, the headband marked him as his team leader and he had been acting on his own undercutting the boy's authority. The boy, George, was gripping his wand tightly. "We need a high-level distraction while Gwen and Max give us fog cover. When we sound the charge you're on shielding. Got it?"

Nodding, he considered his options. "Yes sir." He saluted at the captain.

He cast sonorous on his throat silently before he began to laugh as maniacally as possible. While enjoying the glares of his teammates, he cast Avis, the bird summoning charm, multiple times, creating flocks of birds before sending them pelting out towards the others. His laughing was turning decidedly more amused than supervillain-esque. Correcting himself, he noticed the magically conjured fog rolling across the room. He didn't have to wait before he heard a shouted "CHARGE!"

Jumping to his feet, he started casting shields right, left, and center as stunning spells went flying in whirls of red. He'd just blocked one heading for a short blond leaping over the low walls they'd made earlier when he saw red out of the corner of his eye. He barely focused in on it in time to swear, "Fuck."

Waking up post stunner, he saw his team captain looking down at him in slight concern. "Did we win?" He asked. Important things had to be covered first.

The kid nodded, smiling proudly. "The birds were brilliant! Can you teach us how to do that?!"

"Of course." Bellamy said, accepting the hand up and surveying the room.

Professor Miller was filling out what he knew to be an evaluation sheet while the students were either reviving their stunned friends or helping to clean up the floor. A slumped student was sitting in front of Jackson and the fourth years he'd been tutoring in first aide as the man tried to get rid of the tentacles that now made up the kid's hair. Frowning, Bellamy turned to his team leader. "How did Jack get tentacles for hair?"

George shrugged. "No clue, I think someone hit him with a jinx at the same time someone else hit him with a transfiguration spell though. At least that's the only way we could explain it."

"Huh…we should figure out how to repeat that. If we could get the tentacles to attack the person afflicted, it could be quite an effective curse." Bellamy said, thinking about the fabulous pranking possibilities it opened up for them as well as the potential for a distraction tactic against the aurors. Clapping George on the shoulder, he headed over to Professor Miller.

"Blake." Professor Miller acknowledged.

"Yo, so how'd we do teach?" He smiled proudly.

The man shook his head. "Your shielding was horrible. Honestly, a simple protegio alone? You've gotten them all solid on the casting of defensive and offense hexes though. We'll need to work on more creative spellcasting as well as teamwork. Though, that George at least has a head on his shoulders."

Bellamy straightened his shoulders, accepting the criticism. "So, what do you suggest?"

Professor Miller crossed his arms and seemed to consider. "They're kids, so auror training isn't going to work. We'll have to adjust training exercises for them. For now, in the evening study sessions you're going to want to work on keeping them up on spell casting in charms, defense, and transfiguration. They need to have a wide repertoire to draw from if they want to be effective against auror teams. On our weekend rotations, we should organize capture the flag and dodge spell games. Also, encouraging some friendly quidditch matches could be wise. Wizards are weak against physical strategies. Quidditch might not be the most physical sport but hopefully it will help. It will at least help with reflexes and dodging which is an important part of any fight."

"So, no dueling practice?" Bellamy asked seriously.

"You could look into that Cartwig girl starting a dueling club and encouraging members to participate in it in their spare time. However, for us dueling should be a side project at best. We need to be capable of working in teams. Team games will be best for that. Starting next year we can start using more auror techniques with the seventh years. For now, it's too late to start that this year."

Bellamy considered what he knew about Sydney and Clarke. "We can get older members into the castle on weekends to help practice and train."

"That would help, especially with those of you graduating this year." Professor Miller looked at him critically. "How soon are we putting feet on the ground?"

"September I think." Bellamy said. "For now it's too early, but we need to be ready in case something changes."

"Speed of casting, everyone needs to be learning non-verbal spells regardless of year." He looked deeply concerned. "We're preparing children for war." There was a bone deep sorrow in his voice.

Bellamy considered what to say. His first instinct was to say that 'it was the right thing to do,' that they'd all chosen this but somehow he doubted that would help. Running his thumb along the edge of his JEM, he considered what Clarke would say. "They were already a part of this war as soon as they were born into our world less than purebloods."

"They're children." Professor Miller said. "I swore to protect them but this feels like the opposite of that."

"How long before they would have ended up in Azkaban?" Bellamy clenched his fists. "Or were chased from our world for being 'impure'." He scoffed. "They were already in it."

"Why do you think I agreed to this?" Professor Miller asked stiffly. "I'll train every one of these kids so they can survive and possibly have a chance at something more. Still, I don't like it."

"The adults can't do it. They have too much to lose." Bellamy said simply. "They've already lost too much. They've lost their spirit. We have the courage, the hope, and the will to act that they have lost."

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

"Prohibere is a stronger shield than a simple Protegio. It takes more concentration though." Thalia lectured to the assembled sixth and seventh years. Bellamy had a quill out and was taking notes.

She scanned them. "There are four major shields used in modern dueling: Protegio, Prohibere, Murus, and Cogitare."

Bellamy frowned slightly, he'd heard of two of the four, but had been under the impression that Cogitare was a poor shield. Still, he wrote it down. If the pureblood seventh year thought they needed to know it, he'd listen.

"Now the four shields each have different strengths and weaknesses. Protegio is the fastest and most versatile shield charm. You all know it and are aware it won't block most curses or overpowered jinxes. Prhibere takes longer, but lasts longer and will block overpowered jinxes and low level curses. It's a safer option if you are attempting to protect someone else. Murus takes time and concentration, but will block most curses. It should only be used in group combat since the time necessary for casting makes it useless in a duel. Congitare will reflect most jinxes and hexes straight back at the caster. It's a useful shield that while perhaps weak, can double as an offensive maneuver." Thalia continued to lecture.

Bellamy raised his hand. "What about high powered curses? None of these would block against the truly dark magic out there."

Thalia nodded in understanding. "Transfiguration or dodging are your best option. The only shield spells capable of dealing with the highest-level curses, including the unforgivables, are strictly guarded family magics."

"Why not teach us those? Like that shield Clarke used. It held up to pretty much whatever Dax sent at it." Bellamy asked while thinking about it. Wasn't the point of this to learn magic that as non-purebloods they wouldn't have access to otherwise.

Thalia shook her head. "I can't, nor can Clarke. No pureblood can share their family magics. Usually any texts for a family grimoire are enchanted with blood locks. Most children swear unbreakable oaths, or sign contracts forbidding the sharing of that magic with outsiders at a young age."

Sterling made a grunt of surprise. "Isn't the point for us to learn that stuff though?"

"No," Thalia said firmly. "It's to teach you magic that isn't taught at Hogwarts. There's a difference. Every pureblood will know and have been taught a far wider range of magic than anyone solely educated at Hogwarts."

"That isn't fair." Sterling said, crossing his arms. "Why should purebloods get special spells like that?"

Thalia let out a groan of exasperation and rolled her eyes. "Family magics are a form of wealth. They are a part of our identity legally as well as culturally, we'll never share that magic with those outside of our families. They are a part of who we are, to take that away is to strip us of our identity. No two families will have the same magic." Spinning her wand between her fingers, she seemed to pause. "My family is famous for their illusion work and spells. The Griffin family is famous for their shields. Every pureblood family has a specific set of spells that they hold and are known for developing. Of course, you can use what you learn to create your own spells or teachings. Then you could bind them to your bloodline creating your own family magics."

It...it sounded like a load of bullshit to Bellamy. On the other hand, he understood from a historical point of view. A knight might teach others how to fight but they weren't going to hand over their personal armor. Grunting, he spoke to settle the annoyance in the group. "So, basically you'll teach us how to play the game but you're not giving us the equipment just the address of the shop?"

Thalia breathed easy nodding. "Exactly. We're all magical and are entitled to our own magic or creating our own family magics. I can teach you anything that I'm not bound by oath not to tell you."

"Alright, so what about curses?" Bellamy asked seriously. They were really the big difference between pureblood and others when fighting.

"Curses are a part of dark magic. To use dark magic is forbidden so if you are caught doing it the consequences will be fearful. A great deal of magic categorized as dark is not truly and has been outlawed for various political reasons. True dark magic is designed to cause harm and requires the intent to hurt. Of course, if I cast a levitation spell so I can bash someone over the head with a rock I am casting with negative intent. However, that intent isn't what's used for the spell. I command the rock to move. Dark magic is different. You must will the head to be bashed instead. The difference makes the result stronger. Not only is the intent more directly focused on hurting your enemies but your emotions will automatically enhance the power." She waved her wand, summoning one of the training dummies to the front of the room in front of them all.

Her face went serious. "If I want to stab a person, I can use 'Agitur'." She snapped her wand in sharp backwards L and a metal stake formed and flew forward from her wand before burying itself several inches into the dummy. "That is a spell combining conjuration and charms. My intent is the spike. The speed is a result of the power I put into it. Now on the other hand." She narrowed her eyes, stabbing with her wand at the dummy. "Confodere."

A whistling sound issued from her wand along with a nearly invisible gust that skewered straight through the manikin blowing a hole through its chest. Splinters blew out from the hole. The whole room fell deathly silent. Thalia eyed them seriously. "That is the difference between a curse and a common spell within a similar branch of magic."

Bellamy noted the dark piece of metal lodged in the wall behind the manikin and realized that it must have been conjured as it flew. The first spell while she had meant to cause harm she hadn't used that intention for the magic. On the other hand, the harm was the entire intention of the curse. Using it for any reason other than to blow holes in things would be impossible. The first spell Agitur could be used for stakes while camping, a game of magical darts or target practice.

Thalia's wand swished, bringing the dummies up in a row before the stone wall behind her. "Now, let's see if you can master the two and learn how to choose which one to use."

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

Bellamy slumped in the arm chair across from where Clarke was writing in flowing calligraphy what looked like a legal contract. "Do I want to know?"

"Harper's contract." Clarke said, not looking up from the table where she was working. "I have to make sure she's paid from the Wizengamot staffing fund but is employed by me."

"Why?" He cocked his head to the side. "Can't you just pay her?"

Clarke looked at him like he was an idiot. "Why would I pay her when I can make the government pay her? No sense wasting money that could go to the rebellion when we can get the government to pay her. I can use it as a blueprint for future contracts for both party members and various necessary staff."

"Right…Slytherin plotting. Though that is a nice touch of irony making the government help finance us." He shook his head while smiling at the trickery. "You're truly terrifying. Why does the party need contracts?"

"Not all of the party will be sworn to the rebellion." Clarke said while dipping her pen back into the ink. "The greatest risk for betrayal and failure lies in someone on my end trading us in for political advancement. So, keeping the majority of the people on my end in the dark is for the best."

Bellamy glowered. "I thought the oath prevented that from happening!"

"It does." Clarke replied with a clear 'duh' in her voice. "But if you want to leave a bunch of politicians with years to find ways around it you might as well be a troll."

He blinked. "Ah, that's smart actually…Merlin I've gotten so used to trusting you that I sometimes forget how terrible the typical politician is." He pinched the bridge of his nose. That was a foolish mistake to make. Slytherin's and politicians he was learning weren't all evil or necessarily prejudiced, but they were dangerous.

"That's…" Clarke looked at him with a surprised and pleased expression on her face. "That is stupid. Sweet, but stupid. A politician is only trustworthy so long as you are aware of their goals. Though knowing the methods they might use to reach them is important as well."

"You lot are insane." He grumbled before digging in his bag for a long piece of parchment with the speech he'd been working on with O. "Here, do you mind reading this over? We think we have what needs to be said ready for when Raven gets the radio done."

Clarke seemed to consider before setting her quill down and taking the speech from him and beginning to read it. Biting her lip, she scanned it to the bottom. While she did that, Bellamy closed his eyes enjoying the crackling fire at his feet and the comfy chair. God, the room of requirement was the best. Their practice room even had a doorway into their lovely study so both rooms could be used at once. He blinked open his eyes when he felt himself being poked.

"This is good, really good." Clarke said seriously. "You're a far better speaker than I am. Merlin, I'm going to have to get you to help me write political speeches when election month gets here."

He blanched at the idea of more work. Already he was beginning to structure tutoring lessons around his own topics of study and with all his duties to the rebellion things were beginning to pile up for him. "Anything I should change?"

She tossed it back to him. "Be careful you don't alienate the purebloods. We need them to at the least be complacent if not helping us. You focus on blaming individuals too often. Don't take that out entirely but focus more on your metaphors for the state of our society and how the disease of prejudice is weakening us."

He nodded pulling out a pen and ink and preparing to reword a few phrases. "What did you think of the names we'll be using as our nom de guerre on the radio?"

"Augustus is a clever name." She smirked. "It's a common enough name in our world that it will make you relatable to those born in the magical world."

He grinned, "And Augustus had a sister Octavia."

"There is that as well." She laughed. "How did you let Raven convince you Athena was appropriate?"

"She wanted to be Dr. Explosion." He deadpanned. "It was that or Morgana and taking the name of one of the two most foundational and important magical people in history seemed a bit…presumptuous."

Clarke snorted. "That sounds like her." Shaking her head in amusement, she cocked her head to the side. "The fireworks were secured?"

"Yeah, we've got them on the edge of the anti-apparition wards. How Jasper and Monty got the centaurs to agree to helping us hide stuff in their land I don't know or want to know." He grimaced...he had a feeling it had to do with literally turning their shit into an anti-wizard weapon. While poetic it was also disgusting, though that was probably why it appealed to them.

"We're almost ready then." She cracked her neck and stretched out her muscles. "Things are going to begin to move and change now."

"Good." Bellamy said seriously. "This country has needed a change for too long."

"You got the designs for our emblem from Roma?" She asked.

He nodded. "Got them yesterday."

She stood up folding the contract up carefully after drying the ink with a flick of her wand. "I'll take you to Ollivanders for a new wand next weekend. You can't keep using one of those old spare wands the school keeps around for emergencies. How you even use spells with it is a mystery."

He grimaced at the idea of accepting the gift, but he had broken his wand while fighting Dax with her so in this case he was going to have to accept the gesture. "Thanks."

"Will one of your teams be ready for our first action?" She inquired gently.

"Yeah, we'll be working in here every night after tutoring till the radio is ready." He felt nervous energy under his skin despite his exhaustion. It was all starting soon. "Does this feeling ever go away?"

She gave a slight scoff. "Tell me if it ever gets normal for you."

"You know I never would have pictured myself here, by your side and everything." He rubbed the back of his head before holding out his hand. "I'm proud to be working with you."

Reaching out, she accepted his hand. "You are not what I expected either but I am proud to have you by my side as well."

Taking his hand back, he shuffled, hoping to get rid of the suddenly touchy feely air in the room. "So, is this new soft side of you going to stick around if I fail my exams?"


	26. Chapter 26

-Author's note-

Hey guys we decided that since this would be such a massive project that we would break it up into pieces. This is the last chapter of the first section. We will be immediately starting the next section so do not worry about this causing a delay in updates. Anyway WOOHOO we finished the first part. Hope you guys liked it. Much more excitement awaits you in part two. Which will be coming soon.

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

Lexa flipped her notebook closed before stuffing it into her left pocket. As she walked towards her partner, her boots crunched the broken glass on the ground. Atohl was grumbling with a tight impatient face as he listened to the shop owner talking. Rolling her eyes skyward she stepped next to him gripping his shoulder a bit too tight. "I've got this, why don't you take photographs of the scene?"

He grunted before marching over and grabbing the camera. Ignoring his unprofessional behavior she turned to the shop keeper. Checking the name tag, she plastered on a professional expression. "I'm sorry about my partner Mrs. Green."

The Asian shop keeper looked at her with a furrowed brow. "Why? It's not like what he said isn't true. I know that this crime won't be solved 'that I'm just bothering and making a fuss that wastes the time of good aurors.' The aurors don't take seriously crimes against us lesser folk." She crossed her arms.

Lexa gave a slight tilt of her chin. "It's not that, there is little evidence here. I'm sorry, but without eyewitnesses, evidence, or magical residue there is little we can do. Of course, we'll file the report so your insurance company can reimburse you. If we find anything or a witness comes forward, we'll of course further investigate. However, in cases like this there is little we can do."

"So, if I was on a better street and had better blood you'd still be telling me the same thing then." The woman gave her a cynical look before scoffing, "Just get what you need to do done and leave us alone. You aurors certainly haven't been any help any of the other times and now the window has been broken so many times we can't even repair it anymore."

"Of course, we'll be out of your way as soon as my partner finishes photographing the damages." Lexa said briskly, glad to be leaving the crime scene soon.

Walking past the carefully and meticulously ordered shelves of dried and preserved magical plants, she approached Atohl. He was coughing from the fumes from the clunky camera. "You done playing nice with the mudblood?"

Lexa clenched her teeth and forced herself to push down most of her frustration. Professionalism was her only defense against the idiocy of her inbred moron of a partner. "Unless you want another public complaint on your behavior, I'd recommend you not use slurs while on the clock," she snapped.

"Touchy, touchy." He mocked before letting the camera hang off his neck. Turning to face her his smug bearded face blanched at the furious glare she was leveling at him. "Right, sorry."

She narrowed her eyes. "I'm your superior officer Atohl and I won't stand for you disrespecting the institution. Go apologize for your behavior to Mrs. Green and then meet me outside."

Stepping out through the door, she breathed out. The purveying cold of winter had changed to the damp of early spring. There was still snow about but it was mainly dirty slush at the sides of the roads. It had been a long day. She took a good look at the smashed store front. The glass had been blown out with a low powered blasting hex. It was true that finding the culprit was nearly impossible. On a magic street, the residue from a low powered hex would be swallowed up by the rest of the magic in the air almost instantly. Not to mention there wouldn't have been enough of a light show for the people on the street to note which among them cast the damn thing.

It most certainly didn't help that she was almost positive she knew who had done it. The Green Apothecary & Gardens store had been undercutting the prices of the apothecary in Diagon Alley. There were plenty of petty shop keepers who didn't like losing business to muggleborns. She could practically guarantee that the owner of the apothecary in Diagon Alley was responsible. However, with no evidence there was nothing she could do. She toed the cobbled street and played with the handle of her wand. She hated crimes on Middleton street, or as the people called it, Mud street. A crime committed here was unlikely to be solved.

"Ready to go?" Atohl asked from behind her elbow.

She raised a brow at him. "We're going to go talk to the owner of Trip's Apothecary."

He screwed up his face looking at her like he'd never seen her before today. "Why?"

"Because that's probably who did it." She said, taking off at a smart clip to where Mud street crossed Diagon alley.

He caught up easily, considering he was half a foot taller than her it didn't surprise her. "It's not like they're going to admit it."

"We're aurors, just because it's unlikely we'll be able to close this case, doesn't mean we don't owe it to the victims to follow every lead." She explained with irritation itching at the back of her neck.

"You realize this is why no one wants to partner with you Trikru? I mean nobody cares who broke the windows of a mudblood's business. Even if we get a confession, what's the court gonna do? They'll get a slap on the wrist, maybe a fine. We're wasting our time."

Lexa wished there was something to distract her from the man but unfortunately other than the way the people on the street were avoiding eye contact and moving out of their way there was nothing of note. "We're aurors Atohl, the courts aren't our business. Solving crimes is."

Her partner made a deep grunt. "I know you have the highest solve rate in the division but lighten up a little. No one cares about these sorts of cases."

"Crossing all of the t's is how you get the highest solve rate rookie." She was aware that Atohl got his job through nepotism. He was a distant cousin of Nia's and a future toady. But, while he was stuck with her she was going to make him do his job.

After a slightly awkward pause, he spoke up again. "You're coming out to the Cauldron for the Minister's address at least?"

She winced slightly. "Unfortunately, my missing of social outings has been noticed."

"You mean the fact you only come when Anya drags you? Cause I may be new, but even I've noticed that."

Lexa turned onto the Alley and headed for their destination while replying. "I have better things to do than get drunk and listen to the wireless."

"Like what? Do you have a hobby hidden under those robes?" he snarked.

She stared at him with contemplation. He was new and she was stuck with him for at least another four months as a partner. Because, of course, Nia made her the training officer of the new auror. "You mentioned my solve rate? I go over the cold cases at home. That and I do my paperwork unlike some of the other aurors in our office. Trust me, never stop looking for answers, do your job, and don't skimp. We owe it to the people who rely on us."

"Did you eat the training manual?" He asked in a sort of horrified tone while looking at her like she was crazy.

She glared at him before opening the door and entering Trip's Apothecary. The bell above the door rang announcing their presence and she could see the smile of recognition on the face of the man behind the counter.

"Aurors! What can I do for you today?" The slightly portly and balding shop keeper asked.

Smiling tightly, she approached the counter. "There was some vandalism and destruction of property at Green's Apothecary. Do you know anything about it?"

The shopkeeper barely twitched. "No, of course in that part of town you can't really be surprised. You know what their lot is like."

"Are you the owner Mr. Trip?" She asked, ignoring the reference to Mud street.

"I am the fourth generation of Trip's to own this shop. The Greens have been undercutting us for weeks now. Sad that someone vandalized their shop though, sounds like a nasty business." He shook his head in fake empathy.

"Would you be willing to submit your wand for a history of spells test then? You understand, protocol and all that." She said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

His eyes widened as he pulled himself up fully. "I certainly will not. Have I done something wrong or are you just harassing decent business folk?!"

She held up her hand. "Nothing like that, just wanting to prevent any false accusations of sabotage. As the only other Apothecary, excluding the one on Knockturn, you would be an obvious choice for such rumors. We're just looking into keeping this whole thing in hand."

His face flushed as he crossed his arms. "Well, I'm not going to bend to nasty rumors. If those Greens want to start something, they can do it without sticking aurors on me. I thought you lot were better than this!"

She tilted her head slightly noticing the attention of the customers that were now riveted on their conversation. "The Greens have made no accusations, nor have we. Consider this us ensuring that it is labeled for what it is, as some kid playing around foolishly. Of course, you are well within your rights to refuse. Either way, I do recommend that you put some additional protective spells on your front windows in case the culprit intends to hit more than just the one apothecary."

"Well then, you can just see yourselves out then." He said with a sharp nod.

Lexa gave a slight tilt of her head. "Thank you for your time Mr. Trip."

As soon as the door shut behind them with a ring of the bell, Atohl spoke up beside her. "So, we want to be out of the office when his complaint about this gets to Nia then?"

She closed her eyes. "Yes, now let's go talk to the apothecary on Knockturn."

"Why?" He asked, sounding deeply confused. "They don't even sell the same sorts of plants as The Trip or Green apothecaries."

"Because they'll probably have an illegal ingredient in sight so we can get at least one arrest in today. Also, because being accused of targeting an upstanding citizen isn't on my to do list." She grumbled. Pointless legwork, was worth it so that she could legitimately inform Nia she'd asked the same questions at every apothecary within walking distance.

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

Apparating into her apartment, Lexa felt her shoulders losing some of the tension in them. It had been an awful day and of course she only had an hour before Anya would come here personally to drag her to the Leaky Cauldron for socializing. Moving to the kitchen of her tiny apartment, she filled her kettle and set it on the stove. Rummaging through the dusty cupboards, she finally found a tin of tea. Merlin, she needed to go shopping soon. Once she had her tea pot ready for the water, she stepped to where her little folding table and chairs were.

Once upon a time it had been a warm and lovely home here. Now it was just a place for her to rest before going out into the world again. Dropping her heavy auror jacket over the back of the unused second chair at the table, she glared at the wall. Spreading out that morning's Daily Prophet across the table she carefully cut out the relevant article. Pinning it to the timeline of notes she'd created, she leaned on the table and slowly followed what she had.

Between the melt down Dax had at the winter gala and what Aden had been able to tell her, the start of everything had been when Professor Shumway had disappeared. A Gryffindor seventh year Atom had run away the same weekend. She'd tacked the information about his disappearance to the side so it wasn't connected to the rest, but it was still a point of note. Frowning, she checked her timeline of Dax's last months of life. He'd blamed Clarke and Bellamy for Shumway leaving. If she was right, he'd finally snapped and attempted to torture Bellamy for answers before Clarke had interrupted and in the fighting, he'd been killed. What was driving her crazy was why.

The whistle of the kettle distracted her enough to leave and take it off the stove. Carrying her now full pot of tea and mug, she set it down on the table before sitting down in the rickety chair. Rapping her fingers against the table, she groaned. Dropping her head on the table, she closed her eyes and breathed out her frustrations. It just didn't make any sense. Shumway had left the school, sure it was odd but all the paperwork was correct. Sydney had a letter of resignation and had granted him leave. It wasn't like the man had just left. They claimed he had left to deal with a family issue but Lexa thought it had all the earmarks of a cover-up of some scandal involving Shumway. When she had been in school Shumway had been vicious when he thought he could get away with it. It wasn't hard to believe that he had gone too far and that Sydney had covered-up for him. She even had some suspicions that the scandal had to do with that boy Atom who had 'run away' at the same time that Shumway took his leave of absence.

What continued to mystify her though was how all this connected to Clarke Griffin as Dax had been convinced it did. Clarke Griffin had no motive for doing anything to the man. Which then led to the fact she was still wrapping her head around. Bellamy Blake and Clarke Griffin seemed to be friends. There was no reason for their friendship. Between house, blood, status, wealth, and social circles there just wasn't any overlap. The only theory she had was that the late Lord Griffin had used Aurora Blake's services and they'd realized they were half siblings. Still, even that didn't fit, was reaching and she knew it. Not to mention, again there was no evidence.

Aden's letter, which was tacked to the wall, had also been remarkably unhelpful. He'd described a social shift inside Hogwarts. As a fourth year, he didn't seem to quite get how massive of a shift it was. Lexa however could read between the lines. The houses were mixing. Clarke had set up a tutoring system that was networking students of different years and houses in ways that would never have happened before. The first muggleborn professor in eighty years had been appointed. There seemed to a subtle shift of power happening at Hogwarts. Bullies had always been allowed almost free reign of the castle. Now, from how Aden described it, something was causing them to be more cautious. Something frightened them enough that open bullying had gone down and it certainly wasn't a fear of those in authority. Aden also described less wild and dangerous pranks than had gone on the last couple of terms. None of it made any sense.

Sitting back up, she poured herself a cup of tea before beginning to sip at it while considering the evidence again. Looking at the newest addition to the timeline, she rolled her eyes. The article held a picture of Clarke Griffin standing at her seat in the Wizengamot arguing for her proposed educational reforms. The article went on and on discussing teaching requirements in Britain. They looked like they were going to pass within the next few weeks. It was frustrating to her. She could see lots of pieces of a puzzle but she didn't have the border or the context in which to place them. Her floo flared and she looked over to see Anya stepping out of her fireplace.

"What's up kid?" Anya greeted before glancing around the apartment. "Merlin, this place is depressing."

"Hello to you too." Lexa snarked, turning her attention back to the wall.

Anya moved to the fridge opening it up. "Do you have anything other than take-out leftovers and is that…is that mold alive?"

Lexa shifted in her chair. "It's not alive Anya, stop being dramatic. The container on the bottom shelf is left-over spaghetti."

"Small miracles." Anya muttered while pulling out the container and dishing up the food before dropping the plates of cold food on the table. "Eat, we're leaving for the Cauldron as soon as Lincoln clocks out of his shift."

Lexa set her tea down, pulled the cold spaghetti in front of her, and started to eat. "There's something here, I can feel it in my bones."

Anya snorted and conjured herself a sensible wooden chair after a dubious glance at the other chair at the table. "Yeah, what you mean is your slightly creepy obsession with the blond chick."

"Anya!" Lexa snapped in irritation at the woman for not taking her seriously.

"Look, I get it you don't know how to ask the girl out but this," she pointed to the wall, "is weird."

"I'm trying to figure out why she killed someone not ask her on a date." Lexa grumbled before pointing to the wall. "You have to admit something is going on here. The entire social structure of a school doesn't just change! Plus, people don't commit perjury when they're the victim unless they're hiding something worse."

Anya twirled some of the pasta on a fork and stared at Lexa with consideration. "Look, nothing you've found points to anything nefarious. So, what if it was Blake and not Griffin, Dax meant to force himself on? If that's the case and those two are friends, it's possible Griffin is just protecting a friend."

"Everything points to torture not rape." Lexa said darkly.

Anya threw her hands up in surrender. "And some fuckwits think because they have pureblood they can do whatever the hell they want to people like Blake. It happens, and don't tell me it doesn't. So, maybe Dax was just sick in the head and thought he could get a little payback for some dumb prank and things got out of hand. Either way you look at it, it was self-defense. You need to drop this. It's not healthy."

"That's just it, I think Dax was onto something." Lexa pointed with her fork at several newspaper cut outs she'd added to her board. "I think Griffin is up to something, and I think she's got Blake helping her. I think Dax knew or at least suspected it and when he tried to get information out of Blake, Griffin intervened."

Anya chewed on her bite of spaghetti while staring at Lexa. Finally, she swallowed. "You sound insane. What would Clarke bloody Griffin want with the illegitimate child of a squib prostitute?"

"I don't know!" Lexa ran a hand through her hair. "Still, something is happening at Hogwarts, and it's spreading. Anya my gut is telling me that whatever this is it's important."

"Look," Anya held Lexa's eyes. "I trust you with my life, you know that, but it's not healthy how obsessed with work you've been. When you're not at work, you're chasing down leads in your own time. When you're not doing that, you're working what's basically a conspiracy theory." She held her hand up to prevent Lexa from interrupting her. "I get it, I really do. After losing Costia...it's just you need to start living again kid. Clean your damn apartment. Buy groceries that don't come in a can or dry. Come out for drinks after work with us occasionally without us having to drag you. You can't keep this up forever."

Lexa dropped her eyes to her half empty plate. "How do I do that?"

"You start by using some easy cleaning spells on your apartment. Then you meet Lincoln and I at the Cauldron tonight for drinks with the rest of our coworkers. You wake up tomorrow and you do the same thing." Anya's face was hard but around her eyes there was a softness and warmth. "She'd want you to live."

Lexa rubbed at her eyes with the back of her hand roughly. Nodding sharply, she stood up in agreement. "Fine, get out of here then. We both know you're not going to help clean."

-MAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA-

"Commander!" Lincoln called out as soon as he caught sight of Lexa entering the pub.

The side of Lexa's lips quirked up slightly before she headed into the bustling room. She elbowed her way through the crowd to the counter where about ten aurors from the office were gathered. She silently accepted a pint of ale Anya shoved at her.

"Glad to see you here Commander." Anya smirked at her.

Lexa resisted rolling her eyes at the use of that blasted nickname. "Did I have a choice?" She asked dryly before taking a sip of her drink.

"Nope." Anya said.

Lexa's spine stiffened as she felt a hand dropping on her shoulder. "Lexa!"

Turning with a forced smile, she saw her new partner Atohl grinning at her through his neatly groomed, black beard. "Atohl."

He leaned onto the counter next to her. "I wasn't sure if I was going to see you here tonight partner."

Lexa tilted her head towards Anya. "I was informed I was coming...forcefully."

"You aren't half bad for blood traitors you know." He remarked with a stupid smile taking a long swig of his pint. "Even if Lexa made me walk across half of magical London today."

"Thanks." She said her tone laden with sarcasm. She was starting to question if the man had been dropped on his head as a child…a lot. Still, it was an olive branch. "You're not as useless as my last partner."

"I'll confirm that." Lincoln said, dropping his arm over Lexa's shoulders. "The last guy they placed with her is on permanent Azkaban duty."

Atohl blanched. "What did he do?"

Echo, still wearing her official auror jacket snorted into her mug. "It's more like what he didn't do."

"What do you mean?" Atohl asked curiously.

Echo elbowed him playfully. "Well, Commander grouchy here could tell it better, but ... well she's boring. The last guy couldn't do paperwork to save his life. He managed to insult just about everyone. Fortunately, he hit Nia with a giggling hex and we were rid of the sod."

Atohl nearly choked on his mouthful of ale. "No!"

Lexa sighed. "Yes, he also managed to catch his robes on fire…several times."

"How'd he manage that?" Atohl asked sounding amused.

"The buffoon was always leaning over desks to talk to us, completely ignoring the candles." Lexa explained, her poor candles, so many broken candle sticks from being knocked off her desk. That moron was the reason why she now put anti-breaking runes on her candles before taking them to work.

Echo seemed to frown for a moment. "How did he even get in the program?"

"Ministry of Trade's nephew." Lexa said darkly. "Also, his cousin."

"Ah." Echo's face suddenly lit up. "You all will never believe what we found the Minster of Trade's wife doing today!"

Lexa quietly sipped at her pint while listening to Echo and her partner Ryder regaling the group about the high society pureblood stuffing her brassiere with frog spawn in an attempt to steal it from the potion store. Anya followed it up by telling how on her shift guarding the minister he'd managed to spill a head ache relief potion all over his pants. It wasn't nice exactly, but she could concede Anya's point privately that it had been far too long since she'd socialized outside of work. She was brought out of her reflections as the barman filled up a line of fire whiskey shots.

Smirking, she reached out grabbing hers, raising her shot with the rest of them as Lincoln loudly proclaimed their toast. "To the minister's soggy trousers!"

With laughs they all took their shots before pounding chests and knocking on the counter in various stages of pain. Through teary eyes she glared at the bar keep. "What was that? That was not firewhiskey."

"Baba yaga vodka." He smirked across the counter. "Just got a new case of it. Don't tell me you aurors can't take a little soul shivering."

Echo grumbled. "Next round better be actual firewhiskey bar keep or I'll show you soul shivering."

Lexa washed out the biting flavor in her mouth with a long draw from her half empty pint. Leaning against the countertop, she almost smirked as she watched Anya conning some vampires into a game of darts. Anya was going to destroy them.

The general din of the pub was lowered as the radio's volume was raised. Lexa, as well as her fellow aurors, all fell silent looking up at the device along with most of the patrons of the bar. Anya dropped onto the stool next to her, counting out a handful of galleons with a victorious smile.

Lexa leaned forward and questioned her out of the side of her mouth. "We're not going to be challenged to an honor duel over a game of darts again right?"

Anya might have looked fairly wounded, if the crinkled lines around her eyes didn't give away her amusement. "That duel was fun." She bumped Lexa with her shoulder. "Besides we're aurors now, we have to be more responsible and all that."

"You were an auror last time." Lexa dead-panned back.

Anya just laughed softly. "Quiet down, you don't want to miss the Minister's address."

"Yes, missing Jaha go on about what a great leader he is would be terrible," she frowned. Still, she did return her attention to the radio that was just ending the introductory anthem of the country.

The barmen glared at them from where he was cleaning glasses. "Shut it!"

Lexa and the others fell silent again at the warning as the Jaha's voice crackled out over the speakers. "Good evening witches and wizards of Britain. On this…" There was a sharp loud crackle of interference. Then a high pitched loud piercing sound echoed out from the speakers. All the patrons clutched their ears till the sound ended as suddenly as it had started. A deep male voice came through the radio, significantly clearer sounding than Jaha's had been interestingly enough.

"Magical Britain, good evening. My name is Augustus and I have a message for every one of you. From the smallest elf, to the most powerful witches and wizards. We have come to a turning point in our history as a people and a nation. Nothing is more unworthy of a civilized nation as allowing itself to be 'governed' without opposition by a corrupt and unjust system. It is certain that today we are governed by such a system. Every citizen of Magical Britain, conscious of their responsibility, should be ashamed of the part they have played in allowing it to continue. We have by means of gradual, treacherous, and systematic abuse, taken away the rights of many of Britain's magical citizens.

We have condescended to half-bloods. Giving them only what opportunities as could not be given to purebloods and discredited any who try to outstrip or rise above such limitations. Muggleborns are treated as second class citizens, with no opportunities and no hope of a brighter future. Those not willing to submit to this humiliation and debasement are sent to Azkaban, a place of true horror, on the thinnest of excuses.

And how do we treat squibs? How do we treat our very own children when beyond their control they are born without that magic that defines us as a society? When they are not euthanized, they are hidden away, when they are not hidden away like shameful secrets in a closet, they are banished and abandoned with no support in a society they do not understand, like babes in the woods. The luckiest of them are stuck between worlds not belonging to either and without any recourse.

And what of those of us who are not fully human? The elves scorned and treated as slaves. Werewolves infected with a curse they can do nothing about pushed to the very edges of society. Centaurs, who are isolated and shunned. Creatures, with every ounce as much magic and sense as us, are robbed of the most basic of rights.

Who among us has any conception of the dimensions of shame that will befall us and our children when one day the veil of prejudice has fallen from our eyes and we see our sins for what they are...the most horrible of crimes. Crimes that strip away the very dignity and respect that all sentient magicals are entitled to receive. Actions that make a mockery of their best qualities, their most intrinsic - their free will and identity as creatures worthy of respect.

Our society has fallen to this level not exclusively through the actions of corrupt officials or the oppression of a cruel government but also through the tolerance of the general public. We have looked into the face of evil and called it friend and countryman. The leaders who enact these horrors were voted into office by a pliant people unwilling to shake up the status quo. We have said, "this is how it has always been and this is how it will always be," and given up on a better future and a more perfect government. Great evil is only possible when people stand-by, will-less and spineless, and say it could not be otherwise.

Myself and my compatriots have decided that we will not continue to bow-down and submit to such apathy. It is time… as it has always been time… to stand for a world where every sentient is treated with respect. To offer passive resistance… resistance, wherever you may be, against prejudice, against injustice, and against the evils of this world. Do not continue to stand by, silent and inactive, while the rights of you and your neighbors are disrespected. Question authority. Challenge injustice. Do not let the false dividing lines that our oppressors have created amongst us keep us from standing united against those that would have us weak and enfeebled.

Sometimes change requires that we fight for it. Fight with us. We will fight like rams for the respect all magical sentients deserve. Do not forget that every people deserve the regime they are willing to endure. Let us not endure this injustice for a moment longer." The radio descended into a fritz before being shut off by the bartender who was staring at it like one might look at a nesting dragon.

Lexa felt like she'd been punched in the gut. Clenching her fists, she stood up roughly. This wasn't how you helped. The government when threatened only cracked down harder on those they could reach. This 'rebellion' wouldn't help anyone. Instead the very people it was trying to help would be victimized and abused even worse as a result of escalation from the government. Hadn't they learned anything from the death of the prime minister's son? Or from what had happened to the previous rebellion? Jaha had been able to push through all sorts of discriminatory bills in the wake of both events. Things were worse than ever for muggleborns and half-bloods as a result. All of the work she and the others had been trying to do to gain political power and support would be washed away in a second.

Snapping her head to the side, she caught Anya's eye as the rest of the pub seemed to come to life in sudden pandemonium. Lexa shoved her way through the churning crowd heading towards the alley. She ducked out of the path of a swinging elbow, shoving what she was fairly sure was someone who was half troll off of her before stumbling up to the entrance to the alley. She hit the stones of the archway with her wand as they moved to the side she felt her face pale further.

Lighting up the night sky were magical fireworks. Burning dragons of gold and pinwheels of green flame, red owls and orange hawks flying before exploding into showers of sparks. It was fantastical and magical and Lexa could only think it was a herald of what was to come for them, how their world would burn if they were to break out into war.

"Fucking hell!" Echo swore from behind her.

Spinning on her heel, she saw what had gotten her coworker's attention. There painted on the brick wall of the alley entrance was a large silhouette of a ram's head. Below the symbol were the words, "Respect for All Magical Sentients."

Slowly, with heavy steps she walked into the alley with her hand clenched around the handle of her wand. Something was beginning

-Author's note-

We would like to give credit to the White Rose Society whose first pamphlet we used for sections of our speech above. They were an amazing group of people and we hope our words and story will do honor to the words we took from them.  
-RhinoMouse


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